Search Result for "euphuism": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. any artificially elegant style of language;

2. an elegant style of prose of the Elizabethan period; characterized by balance and antithesis and alliteration and extended similes with and allusions to nature and mythology;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

euphuism \eu"phu*ism\ ([=u]"f[-u]*[i^]z'm), n. [Gr. e'yfyh`s well grown, graceful; e'y^ well + fyh` growth, fr. fy`ein to grow. This affected style of conversation and writing, fashionable for some time in the court of Elizabeth, had its origin from the fame of Lyly's books, "Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit," and "Euphues and his England."] (Rhet.) An affectation of excessive elegance and refinement of language; high-flown diction. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

euphuism n 1: any artificially elegant style of language 2: an elegant style of prose of the Elizabethan period; characterized by balance and antithesis and alliteration and extended similes with and allusions to nature and mythology
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

48 Moby Thesaurus words for "euphuism": Gongorism, affectation, affectedness, artfulness, artifice, artificiality, asiaticism, device, elegance, euphemism, exquisiteness, figurative language, figurativeness, figure, figure of speech, floridity, flourish, flower, flowery style, formalism, formality, goody-goodness, goody-goodyism, hyperelegance, image, imagery, manner of speaking, manneredness, mannerism, nonliterality, nonliteralness, ornament, overelaboration, overelegance, overniceness, overpreciseness, overrefinement, pedantry, preciosity, preciousness, precisianism, pretentiousness, purism, purple passage, trope, turn of expression, unnaturalness, way of speaking