periphrasis

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.

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

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

Oddly, they all speak the same puckish periphrasis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Be it remarked that this periphrasis indicated his mother; and that the bread he alluded to is made with a species of leaven.

From Cedar Creek From the Shanty to the Settlement by Walshe, Elizabeth Hely

"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 Lever, Charles James