Periphrastic

//ˌpɛ.ɹəˈfɹæ.stɪk// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Expressed in more words than are necessary. not-comparable

    "He wrote a periphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship."

  2. 2
    Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory. not-comparable

    "In writing, they deem it irreverent to express the Supreme Being [and] in conversation they generally use a periphrastic epithet, such as the All-Good."

  3. 3
    Characterized by periphrasis. not-comparable

    "“The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”."

Adjective
  1. 1
    roundabout and unnecessarily wordy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
ambagiousbombasticcircuitouscircularcircumlocutiouscircumlocutious

Example

More examples

"Students of Latin are racking their brains in trying to understand the mystery of the so-called passive periphrastic."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek περιφραστικός (periphrastikós), from περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

Related phrases

periphrastic conjugation

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.