circumlocution

Other forms of circumlocution

plural

circumlocutions·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about circumlocution

What does circumlocution mean?

circumlocution means "a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in circumlocution?

circumlocution has 6 syllables: cir-cum-lo-cu-ti-on. The stress falls on "ti".

What is another word for circumlocution?

Close synonyms include periphrasis, ambage, indirect expression. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is circumlocution a common word?

circumlocution is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.