Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Circumlocution |
CircumlocutionNoun1. A style that involves indirect ways of expressing things. 2. An indirect way of expressing something. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "circumlocution" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1651. (references) |
Etymology: Circumlocution \Cir`cum*lo*cu"tion\, noun. [Latin expression circumlocutio, from circumloqui, -locutus, to make use of circumlocution; circum loqui to speak. See Loquacious.]. (references) |
Synonyms: CircumlocutionSynonyms: indirect expression (n), periphrasis (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Diffuseness | Polylogy, tautology, battology, perissology; pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy; thrice-told tale; prolixity; circumlocution, ambages; periphrase, periphrasis; roundabout phrases; episode; expletive; pennya-lining; richness. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Circumlocution |
| English words defined with "circumlocution": Ambages ♦ Circuition ♦ Periphrase, Periphrastically ♦ To come honestly by. (references) |
| "Circumlocution" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Circumlocution" is used about 21 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 21 | 76,261 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "circumlocution": circumlocution motto ♦ Circumlocution office ♦ without circumlocution. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
circumlocution | 12 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "circumlocution"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | perifrazim. (various references) | |
Arabic | الإطناب (wordiness). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | увъртания (circumbendibus), заобикалки (circumbendibus). (various references) | |
Czech | slovní opis. (various references) | |
Farsi | طول وتفصیل درکلام , بیان غیرمستقیم . (various references) | |
French | circonlocution. (various references) | |
German | umschreibung (adaptation, altering, changing, circumscription, description, outline, outlining, paraphrase, paraphrasing, periphrasis, rewriting, transcription, transfer, transliteration). (various references) | |
Greek | περίφραση (periphrase, periphrasis). (various references) | |
Hungarian | mellébeszélés (crap, equivocation), szószaporítás (logorrhea, prolixity, redundance, redundancy, rigmarole, tautology, verbiage), kertelés (ambages, hedging, prevarication, shuffle, tergiversation). (various references) | |
Italian | circonlocuzione. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 婉曲 (euphemistic, indirect, insinuating, roundabout). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | え"きょく (euphemistic, indirect, insinuating, musical program, roundabout, roundabout way). (various references) | |
Manx | chymloayrtys. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ircumlocutioncay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | circunlóquio (circumbendibus, periphrasis). (various references) | |
Romanian | circumscriere (circumscribing, circumscription), circumlocuţiune. (various references) | |
Russian | околичности , многоречивость (circumbendibus), иносказание (mythology, parable). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zaobilazan govor, perifraza (periphrasis), okolišanje (equivocation, obliquity, pussyfoot, runabout). (various references) | |
Spanish | circunloquio (diffuseness), circunlocución, rodeo (detour, encirclement, gird, rodeo, round up), parafrasis (circumscription). (various references) | |
Swedish | omsvep (circumbendibus), omskrivning (circumbendibus, circumscription, paraphrase). (various references) | |
Thai | การอ้อมไปอ้อมมา. (various references) | |
Turkish | kaçamak konuşma, geçiştirme, dolambaçlı söz (euphism, periphrasis), asılsız sözcükler kullanma. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | іносказання (allegory), багатослівність (nimiety, padding, pleonasm, prolixity, verbiage, verbosity), просторікування (harangue, peroration), парафраза (paraphrase). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | lời nói quanh co luẩn quẩn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | ambitu, ambitum, circuitu, circuitum, circuitus, periphrasis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "circumlocution": circumlocutions. (additional references) | |
| |
"Circumlocution" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: circumlocutioa, cirumlocution. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "circumlocution" (pronounced 'Cir`cum*lo*cu"tion'): Abacination, Abaction, Abalienation, Abarticulation, Abbreviation, Abdication, Abduction, Aberration, Abevacuation, Abirritation, Abjection, Abjudication, Abjuration, Ablactation, Ablaqueation, Ablation, Ablegation, Abligurition, Abnegation, Abnodation, Abolition, Abomination, Abortion, Abreaction, Abrenunciation, Abreption, Abrogation, Abruption, Absentation, Absolution, Absorbition, Absorption, Abstention, Abstraction, Absumption, Accentuation, Acceptation, Acceptilation, Acception, Acclimatation, Acclimation, Acclimatization, Accombination, Accommodation, Accreditation, Accrementition, Accretion, Accubation, Accusation, Acervation. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-c-i-i-l-m-n-o-o-r-t-u-u" | |
-5 letters: councilor. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-c-c-i-i-l-m-n-o-o-r-t-u-u" | |
+1 letter: circumlocutions. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Expressions 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
