Circumlocutory
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Characterised by circumlocution; overly wordy
"1727, Jonathan Swift (attributed), Martinus Scriblerus, or the Art of Sinking In Poetry Periphrase is another great aid to prolixity; being a diffused circumlocutory manner of expressing a known idea, which should be so mysteriously couched, as to give the reader the pleasure of guessing what it is, that the author can possibly mean; and a strange surprise, when he finds it."
- 1 roundabout and unnecessarily wordy wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"1727, Jonathan Swift (attributed), Martinus Scriblerus, or the Art of Sinking In Poetry Periphrase is another great aid to prolixity; being a diffused circumlocutory manner of expressing a known idea, which should be so mysteriously couched, as to give the reader the pleasure of guessing what it is, that the author can possibly mean; and a strange surprise, when he finds it."
Etymology
From circumlocution + -ory; compare Medieval Latin circumlocūtōrius from Classical Latin circumlocūtiō.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.