Wiktionary

periphrastic

English

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WOTD – 10 February 2010

Etymology

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek περιφραστικός (periphrastikós), from περίφρασις (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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periphrastic (comparative more periphrastic, superlative most periphrastic)

  1. Expressed in more words than are necessary.
    • 1916, Martin Brown Ruud, An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway‎[1]:
      As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.
    • 1940, T. S. Eliot, East Coker:
      That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory/ A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings.
  2. Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory.
    • 1871, Edward Bulwer-Lytton (published anonymously), The Coming Race‎[2], Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons:
      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.
  3. (grammar) Characterized by periphrasis.
    “The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.
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Translations

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