English

Adjective

periphrastic ‎(not comparable)

1. Expressed in more words than are necessary.
   • 1916, Martin Brown Ruud, An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway

     As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.

   • 1940, T. S. Eliot, East Coker:

     "That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory/ A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings."

2. Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory.
   • 1870, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Vril: The Power of the Coming Race

     In writing, they deem it irreverent to express the Supreme Being [… and] in conversation they generally use a periphrastic epithet, such as the All-Good.

3. (grammar) Characterized by periphrasis.

   “The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.

Related terms

• periphrase
• periphrasis
• periphrastic conjugation

Translations