Link Centre Dictionary

circumlocutory

cir·cum·lo·cutory

UK/sɜː.kəm.ləʊˈkjuː.tə.ɹi/ US/sɝ.kəm.loʊˈkjuː.tɚ.i/ uncommon

adjective

1.

roundabout and unnecessarily wordy

  • “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
  • “ambagious”

Origin

From circumlocution + -ory; compare Medieval Latin circumlocūtōrius from Classical Latin circumlocūtiō.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.