different between periphrase vs ambage

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.

English

Noun

ambage (countable and uncountable, plural ambages)

1. (especially in plural) ambiguity; circumlocution
   • Puttenham, Art of Poesie

     without any long studie or tedious ambage

   • 1607, Decker, Whore of Babylon

     Umh! y' are full of ambage.

French

Etymology

From Latin amb?g?s.

Noun

ambage m (plural ambages)

1. (especially in plural) ambage

Further reading

• “ambage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From Latin amb?g?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /am?ba.d??e/

Noun

ambage f (plural ambagi)

1. (especially in plural) ambage

Further reading

• ambage in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Noun

amb?ge

1. ablative singular of amb?g?s