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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocutory
Adjective
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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
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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
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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
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The way the car flows down twisty roads is simply serene due to its talkative and responsive electrohydraulic steering, wonderful chassis communication, minimal body roll, and excellent grip.—
Peter Nelson,
ArsTechnica,
1 Aug. 2025
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Since October, Jackson spoke 50% more words on the bench than Sotomayor who was the next talkative, according to statistics compiled by Adam Feldman and Jake S. Truscott for the Empirical SCOTUS blog.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
6 July 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
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In the photoshoot, Kelce presents a stereotypical (and exaggerated) embodiment of masculinity — he is dressed in full fur, construction vests and wrangles alligators.—
Alyssa Goldberg,
USA Today,
16 Aug. 2025
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According to the story, the tow truck driver’s removal of an ICE SUV was just a routine removal and the story of a bunch of ICE vans being stalked by tow trucks was exaggerated.—
Peter Lyon,
Forbes.com,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In the era of the internet, the circuitous, often murky, nature of art and inspiration plays out in a collective conversation that benefits from a degree of obscurity.—
Hali Bey Ramdene,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
17 Apr. 2025
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Instead of direct routes, U.S. military deportation flights have been forced to take circuitous routes because military flights over the airspace of some countries requires more advanced notice, Isacson said.—
Daniel Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
3 July 2025
Adjective
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For example, the AI maker might tell the AI to always respond succinctly and not be overly wordy.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
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Davis is a magnetic front man, and the Roadhouse Band is an intoxicatingly raucous live outfit, but the constraints of the setup suited his new material, which is suffused with listlessness and yearning, dark jokes and wordy disquisitions on desire.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Circumlocutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocutory. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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