periphrastic Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite roundabout and unnecessarily wordy; (`ambagious' is archaic)
    circumlocutory; ambagious; circumlocutious.
    • had a preference for circumlocutious (or circumlocutory) rather than forthright expression
    • A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle/ With words and meanings."-T.S.Eliot

WordNet

Per`i*phras"tic, Per`i*phras"tic*al adjective (Also<
  • Periphrastic
  • Periphrastical
)
Etymology
Gr. : cf. F. périphrastique.
Definitions
  1. Expressing, or expressed, in more words than are necessary; characterized by periphrase; circumlocutory.

Webster 1913