periphrasis

periphrasis

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek περίφρασις (períphrasis).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /pəˈɹɪfɹəsɪs/

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".
2. (linguistics) Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking.
3. (rhetoric) The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a species of circumlocution)
4. (rhetoric) The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it.

Synonyms

• beating around the bush
• circumlocution

Related terms

• periphrase
• periphrastic

Translations

use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one

Asturian: perífrasis f Catalan: perífrasi f Finnish: perifraasi (fi) French: périphrase (fr) f Galician: perífrase f Greek: περίφραση (el) f (perífrasi)

Italian: perifrasi (it) f Portuguese: perífrase (pt) f Russian: перифра́з (ru) m (perifráz), перифра́за (ru) f (perifráza) Spanish: perífrasis f Swedish: perifras (sv) c

References

• Silva Rhetoricae