Students of Latin are racking their brains in trying to understand the mystery of the so-called passive periphrastic.
Source: tatoeba (5400487)
Periphrastic
//ˌpɛ.ɹəˈfɹæ.stɪk//
Synonyms for "periphrastic" (22 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (5)
Strong matches (6)
Related words (11)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Synonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
3 entriesderived
3 entrieshas context
1 entriesrelated to
7 entriessimilar
1 entriesTranslations
34 translations across 11 languages.
Bulgarian
4 entries- заобиколен adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- иносказателен adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- многословен adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- описателен adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Catalan
2 entries- perifràstic adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- perifràstic adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Dutch
4 entries- omschrijvend adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- omschrijvend adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- omschrijvend adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
- perifrastisch adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
Finnish
1 entries- perifrastinen adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
French
2 entries- périphrastique adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- périphrastique adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Greek
3 entries- περιφραστικός adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- περιφραστικός adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- περιφραστικός adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Hungarian
4 entries- körülírt adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- körülírt adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
- körülírásos adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- körülírásos adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Portuguese
2 entries- perifrástico adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- perifrástico adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Russian
2 entries- иносказа́тельный adj (indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory)
- многосло́вный adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
Spanish
2 entries- perifrástico adj (expressed in more words than are necessary)
- perifrástico adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Welsh
1 entries- periffrastig adj (grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution)
Sample sentences
7 total sentences available.
He wrote a periphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship.
Source: wiktionary
She was simply asked to express how she felt, but her response was periphrastic.
Source: wiktionary
As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 7 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.