as in rambling
using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea
the studio's statement that "the film's earnings did not live up to expectations" was a circumlocutory admission that the movie was a flop
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocutory
Adjective
-
Refine your key points to be clear and concise—no rambling monologues.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025 -
In the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey called 911 to report her 6-year-old daughter JonBenét missing, and found a rambling ransom note left inside their Boulder, Colorado, home.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
Words, including those of artists themselves—as prolix in their way as critics, curators, and historians—can serve vision but can also deflect from it.—
Barry Schwabsky,
ARTnews.com,
3 Sep. 2019
-
In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.—
Roberta Smith,
New York Times,
30 May 2024
Adjective
-
Emily soon bonds with the talkative rebel, and their connection eventually blossoms into a full-on romance.—
James Mercadante,
EW.com,
8 June 2025
-
They are not injured, just very loud and talkative.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 June 2025
Adjective
-
The lawmaker said that the usable speech only came after four or five prompts that generated unusable material, either too verbose or oddly phrased, an illustration of how important the input into the AI is to the result.—
Globe Staff,
BostonGlobe.com,
25 Jan. 2023
-
The verbose coach was at somewhat of a loss for words, opting to forgo opening remarks in his postgame press conference and instead diving right into questions.—
Tom Green | tgreen@al.com,
al,
18 Jan. 2023
Adjective
-
On this song in particular, there’s both this seductive whisper and this exaggerated, bimbo breathiness.—
Reanna Cruz,
Los Angeles Times,
27 June 2025
-
Sherry Coleman Collins, a food allergy dietitian and expert from the Atlanta metropolitan area, suggested the cautions about seed oils may be exaggerated, but did recommend choosing wisely.—
Melissa Rudy,
FOXNews.com,
25 June 2025
Adjective
-
Echinoderm evolution took quite the circuitous route from the bilateral symmetry of Atlascystis to the five or more arms of modern starfish.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
26 June 2025
-
The book’s circuitous path to publication is at least part of the reason for this.—
Adelle Waldman,
New Yorker,
31 May 2025
Adjective
-
Getting this into English would be clunky and far too wordy to fit into Quino’s word bubbles.—
Lily Meyer,
The Dial,
20 May 2025
-
Though some critics at the time were exasperated by having to read such a big, wordy book, The Times selected it as one of the best books of the year.—
Carolyn Kellogg,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Circumlocutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocutory. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share