euphuism
euphuism noun: an ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes. Also the misconstruction of euphemism.
Noun (1)
euphuism (countable and uncountable, plural euphuisms)
- An ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes.
- The second was a fancy, which amounts to a mania, for similes, strung together in endless lists[…]. It is impossible to open a page of Euphues without finding an example of this eccentric and tasteless trick, and in it, as far as in any single thing, must be found the recipe for euphuism, pure and...1887, George Saintsbury, “Early Elizabethan prose”, in A History of Elizabethan Literature
- An instance of euphuism.
- I have not the slightest faith in Carlyle. In ten years–possibly in five–he will be remembered only as a butt for sarcasm. His linguistic Euphuisms might very well have been taken as prima facie evidence of his philosophic ones; they were the froth which indicated, first, the shallowness, and...1844, Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia
- “Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen” seems to be “Generalstatesrepresentativesmeetings,” as nearly as I can get at it,—a mere rhythmical, gushy euphuism for “meetings of the legislature,” I judge.1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), “”, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 613
Noun (2) capitalized: Euphuism
Euphuism (countable and uncountable, plural Euphuisms)
- Alternative letter-case form of euphuism.
- I have not the slightest faith in Carlyle. In ten years–possibly in five–he will be remembered only as a butt for sarcasm. His linguistic Euphuisms might very well have been taken as prima facie evidence of his philosophic ones; they were the froth which indicated, first, the shallowness, and...1844, Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia
- Modern eyes see less of the wit than of the dregs in the works of [Robert] Greene and his compeers; but the attacks which [Thomas] Nash directed against the Puritans and his rivals were the first English works which shook utterly off the pedantry and extravagance of Euphuism.1874, J[ohn] R[ichard] Green, “The England of Elizabeth”, in A Short History of the English People. […], London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, chapter VII (The Reformation), page 393
Also used as
euphuism is also the misconstruction of euphemism.
Forms of euphuism
| plural | euphuisms |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Euphuism |
| plural | Euphuisms |
Origin of euphuism
From Euphues (Ancient Greek ευφυής (euphuḗs, “graceful, witty”)) + -ism, after the titular character in John Lyly’s didactic romance Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Lyly adopted the name from Roger Ascham’s The Scholemaster (published 1570), which describes Euphues as a type of student who is “apte by goodness of witte, and appliable by readiness of will, to learning, hauving all other qualities of the mind and parts of the body, that must an other day serue learning, not troubled, mangled, and halfed, but sound, whole, full & able to do their office”.
Questions about euphuism
- What does euphuism mean?
- Euphuism means an ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes.
- What part of speech is euphuism?
- Euphuism is a noun.
- What is the plural of euphuism?
- The plural of euphuism is euphuisms.
Words near euphuism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: euphuism (page history and authors); Euphuism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “euphuism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/euphuism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.