noun · countable / uncountable · rare

circumlocution

cir·cum·lo·cu·tion

circumlocution · circumlocutions

Umschweife

A roundabout or indirect way of speakingA roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus

UK/ˌsɜːkəmləˈkjuːʃən/US/ˌsɝkəmləˈkjuʃən/

Meaning

4 senses

(uncountable)A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus
Umschweife
an indirect way of expressing something
A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus:
(uncountable)Unnecessary use of extra words to express an idea, such as a pleonastic phrase (sometimes driven by an attempt at emphatic clarity) or a wordy substitution (the latter driven by euphemistic intent, pedagogic intent, or sometimes loquaciousness alone).
(uncountable)Necessary use of a phrase to circumvent either a vocabulary fault (of speaker or listener) or a lexical gap, either monolingually or in translation.
A technical word, such as hyperkalemia or hypoallergenic, can be glossed for general audiences with a circumlocution, such as "high potassium level" or "less likely to cause allergies" (respectively).
(countable)An instance of such usage; a roundabout expression, whether an inadvisable one or a necessary one.

Translations

6 languages

Deutsch

By meaning 1

roundabout or indirect way of speaking:

Origin

From Latin circumlocūtiō (“the act of speaking around; circumlocution, periphrasis”). By s

From Latin circumlocūtiō (“the act of speaking around; circumlocution, periphrasis”). By surface analysis, circum- (“around”) + locution (“talk”), thus "getting around (a problem) in speaking or writing". Probably a calque of Ancient Greek περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

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