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

ASHI-HARA-NO-NAKA-TSU-KUNI=Land in the Middle of the Reed plains, common periphrastic designation of Japan.

From The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations by Nuttall, Zelia

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

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

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various