1
as in ambiguity
deliberate evasion in speech
rather than answering the question directly, he resorted to circumlocution, which made her suspect that he was hiding something
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in repetition
the use of too many words to express an idea
your papers have to be five pages long, but that's five pages of substance, not circumlocution
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of circumlocution
Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.
—
Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023
By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself.
—Giles Harvey, The New York Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2020
This year, House Republicans unveiled a new Conservative Climate Caucus that, in a fascinating circumlocution, sort of recognizes that fossil fuels are causing the planet to warm.
—Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2022
Powell’s statement yesterday (September 22) is the masterpiece of its type, building upon fifteen months of this playful circumlocution, downshifting into bureaucratic blandness.
—George Calhoun, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2021
But the national crisis in policing and the response to it isn’t a matter of arid elite debate or familiar political circumlocution and compromise anymore.
—David Roth, The New Republic, 11 June 2020
These circumlocutions are meant to emphasize the fact that Africans traded like chattel were not, in their essence, slaves but human beings.
—Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 25 Nov. 2019
Although incredibly popular, with 60% approval ratings, Ahok was considered by many to be a divisive figure, by virtue both of his minority status and of his bluntness, which ran counter to Javanese traditions of deference and circumlocution.
—The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018
Mungiu, like many Romanian directors, has a sadistic streak for circumlocution.
—Jordan Hoffman, VanityFair.com, 6 Apr. 2017
Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023
By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself.
—Giles Harvey, The New York Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2020
This year, House Republicans unveiled a new Conservative Climate Caucus that, in a fascinating circumlocution, sort of recognizes that fossil fuels are causing the planet to warm.
—Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2022
Powell’s statement yesterday (September 22) is the masterpiece of its type, building upon fifteen months of this playful circumlocution, downshifting into bureaucratic blandness.
—George Calhoun, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2021
But the national crisis in policing and the response to it isn’t a matter of arid elite debate or familiar political circumlocution and compromise anymore.
—David Roth, The New Republic, 11 June 2020
These circumlocutions are meant to emphasize the fact that Africans traded like chattel were not, in their essence, slaves but human beings.
—Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 25 Nov. 2019
Although incredibly popular, with 60% approval ratings, Ahok was considered by many to be a divisive figure, by virtue both of his minority status and of his bluntness, which ran counter to Javanese traditions of deference and circumlocution.
—The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018
Mungiu, like many Romanian directors, has a sadistic streak for circumlocution.
—Jordan Hoffman, VanityFair.com, 6 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocution
Noun
-
Jurisdictional role ambiguity adds another layer of complexity.—
Khurram Akhtar,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
-
Critics say ambiguities in the law are part of the problem George Wyeth, a visiting scholar at the Environmental Law Institute, says the law is still concerning.—
Michael Copley,
NPR,
22 May 2025
Noun
-
The dog learns through repetition and rewards to associate smell with a person and follow the scent, building up in distance and the scent’s duration.—
Jan Goldsmith,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 May 2025
-
And after 46 days competing, the contest – the largest online chess game ever held, according to Chess.com – ended in a draw after 32 moves when the public forced a threefold repetition in a queen endgame to earn a half-point for either side.—
Ben Morse,
CNN Money,
21 May 2025
Noun
-
The shuffle of who would back up franchise catcher Will Smith behind the plate came together quickly, yet signaled a shift that was a long time coming.—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
-
The lucrative shuffle from detox to residential to outpatient to relapse and back again begins.—
Teri Sforza,
Oc Register,
14 May 2025
Noun
-
The equivocation over the ground invasion reflects Mr. Netanyahu’s need to satisfy far-right cabinet ministers, who are pushing for the full re-occupation of Gaza, and Israel’s top generals, who believe such a move would be difficult to sustain and dangerous to hostages held in Gaza.—
Patrick Kingsley,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
-
The very title of the exhibition, the first Conceptualist project to use photocopy as a medium, signals a deliberate equivocation over nothing less than the ontology of the art object.—
Jeffrey Weiss,
Artforum,
1 May 2025
Noun
-
But Sieh is the standout, emitting a complex blend of sardonic acceptance, cynical verbosity and submerged emotional longing.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
14 May 2025
-
Coogler can let his characters’ verbosity get the better of story momentum.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The decision to scrap the AI diffusion rule, on the other hand, is a helpful one in the short run — reflected by Nvidia’s 3% pop in the final hour of trading Wednesday.—
Kevin Stankiewicz,
CNBC,
8 May 2025
-
The trip coincides with the enforcement deadline for the AI diffusion rule—a regulation introduced in late 2024 aimed at preventing sensitive chip technology from reaching adversarial nations or being rerouted through Gulf countries.—
Jesus Mesa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 May 2025
Noun
-
Just as the limitless space of web text tempts writers to indulge their logorrhea, the blinking, ever-transmuting, cartoonish interface of web browsers prevents would-be readers from paying attention to anything for longer than about 7 seconds.—
Barton Swaim,
WSJ,
19 Sep. 2022
-
Nor has Musk kept his Twitter logorrhea in check in other respects.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2022
Noun
-
On their website, the three yellow stripes are prominently featured on the website under the Black Lives Matter wordage, and used on their social media accounts.—
Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria,
USA TODAY,
29 Mar. 2023
-
Reached by the Union-Tribune Wednesday morning, Lindsey differed with McGillis’ wordage.—
Don Norcross,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Mar. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Circumlocution.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocution. Accessed 31 May. 2025.
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