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periphrastic. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
periphrastic, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
periphrastic in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek περιφραστικός (periphrastikós), from περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
periphrastic (comparative more periphrastic, superlative most periphrastic)
- Expressed in more words than are necessary.
1916, Martin Brown Ruud, An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway:As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.
1940, T. S. Eliot, East Coker:That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory/ A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings.
- Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory.
1871, Edward Bulwer-Lytton (published anonymously), The Coming Race, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons: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.
- (grammar) Characterized by periphrasis.
“The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.
Related terms
Translations
expressed in more words than are necessary
indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory
grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution