periphrastic
Collocations
3ADJ.
arbitrary, passive, so-called
VERB + PERIPHRASTIC
wrote
PERIPHRASTIC + NOUN
letter
Definitions
adj
Expressed in more words than are necessary.
He wrote a periphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship.
She was simply asked to express how she felt, but her response was periphrastic.
Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory.
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.
Characterized by periphrasis.
“The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
adjective — roundabout and unnecessarily wordy
- circumlocutious
- circumlocutory
- ambagious
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
4He wrote a periphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship.
WiktionaryShe was simply asked to express how she felt, but her response was periphrastic.
WiktionaryAs poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.
WiktionaryStudents of Latin are racking their brains in trying to understand the mystery of the so-called passive periphrastic.
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