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 • Mar. 29, 2022

He misrepresents, distorts, bisects sentences and employs periphrastic phrases to make his points.

From Time Magazine Archive

No single individual could deliberately have set to work in order to abolish the old Latin genitive, and to replace it by the periphrastic compound de illo.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max

Adj. diffuse, profuse; wordy, verbose, largiloquent†, copious, exuberant, pleonastic, lengthy; longsome†, long-winded, longspun†, long drawn out; spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering; circumlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious†, roundabout; digressive; discursive, excursive; loose; rambling episodic; flatulent, frothy.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark

"I won't press the analogy, but I will say that those who are themselves periphrastic should avoid criticising others for being ambaginous."

From The Inventions of the Idiot by Bangs, John Kendrick