periphrasis

  1. Noun.  The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
  2. Noun.  (linguistics) Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking.
  3. Noun.  (rhetoric) The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a species of circumlocution).
  4. Noun.  (rhetoric) The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.