periphrastic

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But it seems to this reader, Rebecca becoming Maud also speaks to the preoccupation of this entire book: the periphrastic construction of identity itself.

From New York Times

HANGZHOU, China — The students were lined up in rows, listening intently as their professor, Li Wei, explained the periphrastic future tense.

From Washington Post

This is the only name known in Gaelic to the present hour for the month of August, except a periphrastic one meaning “the first month of autumn.”

From Project Gutenberg

Using these as auxiliaries the finite verb makes a whole series of periphrastic tenses.

From Project Gutenberg

They would have no unities, no arbitrary selection of subjects, no restraints on variety of versification, no academically limited vocabulary, no considerations of artificial beauty, and, above all, no periphrastic expression.

From Project Gutenberg