Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of circumlocution Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities. Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2025 Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion. Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023 This year, House Republicans unveiled a new Conservative Climate Caucus that, in a fascinating circumlocution, sort of recognizes that fossil fuels are causing the planet to warm. Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2022 Powell’s statement yesterday (September 22) is the masterpiece of its type, building upon fifteen months of this playful circumlocution, downshifting into bureaucratic blandness. George Calhoun, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2021 But the national crisis in policing and the response to it isn’t a matter of arid elite debate or familiar political circumlocution and compromise anymore. David Roth, The New Republic, 11 June 2020 By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself. Giles Harvey, The New York Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2020 These circumlocutions are meant to emphasize the fact that Africans traded like chattel were not, in their essence, slaves but human beings. Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 25 Nov. 2019 Although incredibly popular, with 60% approval ratings, Ahok was considered by many to be a divisive figure, by virtue both of his minority status and of his bluntness, which ran counter to Javanese traditions of deference and circumlocution. The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocution
Noun
  • One cultural role of child stars, after all, is to embody for their moment the ambiguities of approaching adolescence.
    Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025
  • There was less ambiguity in Minnesota; Rodgers was signed with the clear intention to start.
    Zach Berman, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The book talked about repetition without repetition.
    Joe Boylan, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Hold for a second and then return to the starting position, completing multiple repetitions (reps).
    Jakob Roze, Health, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In theory, Slot’s tactical out-of-possession shuffle to a staggered 4-3-3 should help Liverpool to defend on their right flank, but the ease with which Chelsea exploited the space was a culmination of weeks of warning signs.
    Mark Carey, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • When Rashid wanders into the office, Vahid stops his call — there’s something about this man’s shuffle that strikes him as familiar.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In the clarity of her equivocation.
    Hilton Als, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The rest of the statement was full of equally cowardly equivocation.
    Sahar Mustafah August 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Flatulent describes inflated, pretentious writing; garrulity describes excessive talkativeness.
    Gary Gilson, Star Tribune, 31 Oct. 2020
Noun
  • This working prompt injection came only after much trial and error, explaining the verbosity and the detail in it.
    Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2025
  • The truth is, there is rarely a Merritt Wever or an Adrien Brody in awards speeches—extreme cases of brevity or verbosity that stun both those in the room and at home.
    Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • By comparing two types of borosilicate glass, one containing magnesium and one without, the team discovered that the diffusion of boron atoms depends strongly on the glass composition and the time it has been exposed to water.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The Duchess of Sussex, who has worn pieces by the American designer in the recent past, opted for a mix of Ralph Lauren’s namesake brand as well as the couturier’s diffusion brand Lauren Ralph Lauren.
    Julia Teti, Footwear News, 13 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Just as the limitless space of web text tempts writers to indulge their logorrhea, the blinking, ever-transmuting, cartoonish interface of web browsers prevents would-be readers from paying attention to anything for longer than about 7 seconds.
    Barton Swaim, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Nor has Musk kept his Twitter logorrhea in check in other respects.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022

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Cite this Entry

“Circumlocution.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocution. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

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