different between circumlocution vs periphrase

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??k?ml??kju???n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?k?ml??kju??n/
• Rhymes: -u???n
• Hyphenation: cir?cum?lo?cu?tion

Noun

circumlocution (countable and uncountable, plural circumlocutions)

1. (uncountable) A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus:
   1. (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).
   2. (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.

2. (countable) An instance of such usage; a roundabout expression, whether an inadvisable one or a necessary one.

Synonyms

• periphrasis
• ambages

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• beat around the bush
• go around the houses
• euphemism
• mince words, mince matters
• equivocation (the use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, possibly intentionally and with the aim of misleading)
• evasive (tending to avoid speaking openly or making revelations about oneself)
• prevarication (evasion of the truth; deceit, evasiveness)
• hedge (to avoid verbal commitment)
• waffle (to speak or write vaguely and evasively; to speak or write at length without any clear point or aim)

English

Etymology

From Latin periphrasis from Ancient Greek ?????????? (períphrasis), from ???????????? (periphrázomai, “I consider all sides of an issue”), from ???? (perí, “around”) + ????? (phráz?, “I show, point out”). See phrase.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??i.f?e?z/
• Homophones: paraphrase (if the second vowel is pronounced as a schwa, as it sometimes is)

Noun

periphrase (countable and uncountable, plural periphrases)

1. (rhetoric) The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution.
   • 1821, Thomas De Quincey, John Paul Frederick Richter (published in London Magazine

     To describe all those on whom the fates of Troy hinged , by enigmatic periphrases

   • 1863, George Eliot, Romola, Volume III, Book III, Chapter VI, page 56

     He held up the condition of the Church in the terrible mirror of his unflinching speech, which called things by their right names and dealt in no polite periphrases […]

Synonyms

• periphrasis

Derived terms

• periphrasic

Translations

Verb

periphrase (third-person singular simple present periphrases, present participle periphrasing, simple past and past participle periphrased)

1. (transitive) To express by periphrase or circumlocution.
2. (intransitive) To use circumlocution.

References

periphrase in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.