periphrasis
Example Sentences
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Prince Bumpo, the heir to the throne, is a mooncalf who mistakes fairy tales for real life, speaks in Elizabethan periphrasis and murmurs to himself: “If only I were a white prince!”
From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2020
Oddly, they all speak the same puckish periphrasis.
From Time Magazine Archive
This periphrasis so fascinated Charles W. Morton, now the associate editor of the Atlantic, that he began collecting examples of "Elongated Yellow Fruit" writing.
From Time Magazine Archive
"The ordinary channels of information," to use Sir Robert's periphrasis, are the extraordinary ones too; and not only do they contain whatever Ministers know, but very often "something more."
From Diary And Notes Of Horace Templeton, Esq. Volume II (of II) by Charles James Lever
Hazlitt affirms that this popular diction is "an expression or combination of words conveying a truth to the mind by a figure, periphrasis, antithesis, or hyperbole."
From Proverb Lore Many sayings, wise or otherwise, on many subjects, gleaned from many sources by F. Edward (Frederick Edward) Hulme
But the reason why Christianity uses these periphrases or metaphors, these euphemisms for death, is the opposite of the reason why the world uses them.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) by Alexander Maclaren
This will sometimes require the use of unfamiliar periphrases: the words “music” and “rites” may be given as “the rhythm of life” and “conformity to the ideology.”
From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
This confusion of Pagan and Christian mythology is increased by his habit of finding classical periphrases for the expression of religious ideas.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by John Addington Symonds
The philosophic pride of the eighteenth century was tickled by the use of general terms in description; the chosen periphrases are always more comprehensive than the names that they replace.
From Milton by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh
But Mr. Frazer has remarked that periphrases for sacred beasts, like ‘Big Feet’ for Bear, are not uncommon.
From Modern Mythology by Andrew Lang
Vocabulary lists containing periphrasis
Reading: Literature - Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - High School
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Rhetoric
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Around and Around: Peri
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