Word.ws English Dictionary

periphrasis

UK/pəˈɹɪfɹəsɪs/

periphrasis noun: the use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".

Noun

periphrasis (countable and uncountable, plural periphrases)

  1. The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
    • Near-synonyms: circumlocution, loquaciousness
  2. Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking.
    • Language learners sometimes use periphrases like "did go" where a native speaker would use "went".
    • Native speakers use periphrases like "did not go" where a language learner might use "went not".
  3. (rhetoric) The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a type of circumlocution).
    • Periphrasis a single thought expands,
      And uses many words for what but few demands.1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Figures.] Periphrasis.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 37
    • The "glen," or the "brake of the lion," is Pindar's favourite periphrasis for Nemea.1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 4, page 63
  4. (rhetoric) The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it.

periphrasis meaning in Tamil and Kannada

periphrasis in Tamil

சுற்றி வளைத்து, நீளமாகக் கூறும் சொற்றொடர், மிகைச்சொற்றொடர், சுற்றி வளைத்துப் பேசுதல், மிகைபடக் கூறல்

periphrasis in Kannada

ಬಳಸುಹೇಳಿಕೆ

Synonyms of periphrasis

Forms of periphrasis

pluralperiphrases

Origin of periphrasis

From Ancient Greek περίφρασις (períphrasis).

Questions about periphrasis

What does periphrasis mean?
Periphrasis means the use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
What is periphrasis in Tamil?
Periphrasis in Tamil is சுற்றி வளைத்து, நீளமாகக் கூறும் சொற்றொடர், மிகைச்சொற்றொடர். See Periphrasis meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is periphrasis?
Periphrasis is a noun.
How do you pronounce periphrasis?
Periphrasis is pronounced /pəˈɹɪfɹəsɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of periphrasis?
The plural of periphrasis is periphrases.

Words near periphrasis in the dictionary

  1. periphrase
  2. periphrased
  3. periphrases
  4. periphrasic
  5. periphrasing
  6. periphrasis
  7. periphrastic
  8. periphrastic conjugation
  9. periphrastic conjugations
  10. periphrastical
  11. periphrastically

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: periphrasis (page history and authors); periphrasis (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); periphrasis (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-periphrasis.wav.

Cite this entry: “periphrasis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/periphrasis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.