Search Result for "circumlocution": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things;
[syn: circumlocution, periphrasis, ambage]

2. an indirect way of expressing something;
[syn: circumlocution, indirect expression]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Circumlocution \Cir`cum*lo*cu"tion\, n. [L. circumlocutio, fr. circumloqui, -locutus, to make use of circumlocution; circum + loqui to speak. See Loquacious.] The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language; a periphrase. [1913 Webster] the plain Billingsgate way of calling names . . . would save abundance of time lost by circumlocution. --Swift. [1913 Webster] Circumlocution office, a term of ridicule for a governmental office where business is delayed by passing through the hands of different officials. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

circumlocution n 1: a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things [syn: circumlocution, periphrasis, ambage] 2: an indirect way of expressing something [syn: circumlocution, indirect expression]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

68 Moby Thesaurus words for "circumlocution": ambages, anfractuosity, circling, circuition, circuitousness, circuitry, circularity, circulation, circumambages, circumambience, circumambiency, circumambulation, circumbendibus, circumflexion, circummigration, circumnavigation, circumvolution, convolution, crinkle, crinkling, deviance, deviancy, deviation, deviousness, digression, excursion, excursus, flexuosity, flexuousness, gyre, gyring, indirection, intorsion, involution, meander, meandering, obliqueness, orbit, orbiting, periphrase, periphrasis, pleonasm, redundancy, rivulation, roundabout, roundaboutness, rounding, sinuation, sinuosity, sinuousness, slinkiness, snakiness, spiral, spiraling, tautology, torsion, tortility, tortuosity, tortuousness, turn, turning, twisting, undulation, verbality, wave, waving, wheeling, winding