Word Meanings - PERIPHRASE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution. "To describe by enigmatic periphrases." De Quincey.

Related words: (words related to PERIPHRASE)

• ENIGMATIC; ENIGMATICAL
  Relating to or resembling an enigma; not easily explained or accounted for; darkly expressed; obscure; puzzling; as, an enigmatical answer.
• ROUNDABOUTNESS
  The quality of being roundabout; circuitousness.
• NECESSARY
  1. Such as must be; impossible to be otherwise; not to be avoided; inevitable. Death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come. Shak. 2. Impossible to be otherwise, or to be dispensed with, without preventing the attainment of a desired result;
• WORDSMAN
  One who deals in words, or in mere words; a verbalist. "Some speculative wordsman." H. Bushnell.
• SPEAKERSHIP
  The office of speaker; as, the speakership of the House of Representatives.
• EXPRESSURE
  The act of expressing; expression; utterance; representation. An operation more divine Than breath or pen can give expressure to. Shak.
• EXPRESS TRAIN
  Formerly, a railroad train run expressly for the occasion; a special train; now, a train run at express or special speed and making few stops.
• EXPRESSIVE
  1. Serving to express, utter, or represent; indicative; communicative; -- followed by of; as, words expressive of his gratitude. Each verse so swells expressive of her woes. Tickell. 2. Full of expression; vividly representing the meaning
• SPEAKER
  1. One who speaks. Specifically: One who utters or pronounces a discourse; usually, one who utters a speech in public; as, the man is a good speaker, or a bad speaker. One who is the mouthpiece of others; especially, one who presides
• ENIGMATICALLY
  Darkly; obscurely.
• EXPRESSNESS
  The state or quality of being express; definiteness. Hammond.
• INDIRECTNESS
  1. The quality or state of being indirect; obliquity; deviousness; crookedness. 2. Deviation from an upright or straightforward course; unfairness; dishonesty. W. Montagu.
• INDIRECTION
  Oblique course or means; dishonest practices; indirectness. "By indirections find directions out." Shak.
• DESCRIBER
  One who describes.
• DESCRIBENT
  See GENERATRIX
• CIRCUMLOCUTION
  The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language; a periphrese. the plain Billingagate way of calling names . . . would save abundance of time lost by circumlocution. Swift. Circumlocution
• EXPRESSIONAL
  Of, or relating to, expression; phraseological; also, vividly representing or suggesting an idea sentiment. Fized. Hall. Ruskin.
• EXPRESSIONLESS
  Destitute of expression.
• EXPRESSMAN
  A person employed in the express business; also, the driver of a job wagon. W. D. Howells.
• EXPRESSAGE
  The charge for carrying a parcel by express.
• BESPEAKER
  One who bespeaks.
• SWORDSMANSHIP
  The state of being a swordsman; skill in the use of the sword. Cowper.
• OUTSPEAK
  1. To exceed in speaking. 2. To speak openly or boldly. T. Campbell. 3. To express more than. Shak.
• UNBESPEAK
  To unsay; hence, to annul or cancel. Pepys.
• INEXPRESSIBLY
  In an inexpressible manner or degree; unspeakably; unutterably. Spectator.
• FORSPEAK
  1. To forbid; to prohibit. Shak. 2. To bewitch. Drayton.
• SWORDSMAN
  1. A soldier; a fighting man. 2. One skilled of a use of the sword; a professor of the science of fencing; a fencer.
• FORESPEAKING
  A prediction; also, a preface. Camden. Huloet.
• UNEXPRESSIBLE
  Inexpressible. Tillotson. -- Un`ex*press"i*bly, adv.