periphrasis
nounEtymology
From Ancient Greek περίφρασις (períphrasis).
- derived from περίφρασις
Definitions
The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for…
The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather…
Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking.
- Language learners sometimes use periphrases like "did go" where a native speaker would use "went".
- Native speakers use periphrases like "did not go" where a language learner might use "went not".
The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a type of…
The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a type of circumlocution).
- Periphrasis a single thought expands, And uses many words for what but few demands.
- The "glen," or the "brake of the lion," is Pindar's favourite periphrasis for Nemea.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it.
The neighborhood
- synonymbeating around the bush
- synonymcircumlocution
- neighborperiphrase
- neighborperiphrastic
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for periphrasis. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA