periphrastic

adj

1. (not-comparable)Expressed in more words than are necessary.

   “He wrote a periphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship.”

   “She was simply asked to express how she felt, but her response was periphrastic.”

   “As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.”

   “That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory/ A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings.”

2. (not-comparable)Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory.

   “In writing, they deem it irreverent to express the Supreme Being [and] in conversation they generally use a periphrastic epithet, such as the All-Good.”

3. (not-comparable)Characterized by periphrasis.

   ““The daughter of the man” may be used as a periphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.”