as in pleonastic
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for periphrastic
Adjective
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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 -
His answer is this book: a laudably sincere, exasperatingly prolix and occasionally affecting rumination on the state of Egypt—its society, culture, history and politics—pegged to the maddening bureaucracy of the archive.—
Kapil Komireddi,
WSJ,
12 Mar. 2023
Adjective
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This is an unusual position for an exponent of the public sphere and communicative rationality to take.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Police said the woman was non-communicative.—
Stephen Gruber-Miller,
Des Moines Register,
19 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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With Payton and Nix, in particular, part of the rationale was to get some of Payton’s most wordy calls on the band so the coach could give short-hand to Nix, creating a couple of extra seconds for the quarterback to spit out a call that might be15 or 20 words long.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
7 Jan. 2026
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Clearly, this was a bit wordy, so this became ‘parking the bus’, which initially found popularity as an insult for unambitious football, then later was used in a more neutral manner to mean deep defending.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
14 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Instead, Reeves became Estragon, the more simplistic and long-suffering of the duo, while Winter tackled Vladimir, the more commanding and verbose character.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
1 Oct. 2025
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Director Richard Linklater is fond of a verbose protagonist; Hawke and Julie Delpy gabbed through three films’ worth of Before movies, after all.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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This year’s Oscar-villain conversation, then, is far more diffuse than ever.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2026
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In diseases like glioblastoma — diffuse, infiltrative, and resistant — delivery is often the difference between theoretical efficacy and real-life impact.—
Sanjay Srivastava,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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This lion was traveling a circuitous route from mountains to foothills to backyards and front yards, navigating urban sprawl but avoiding encounters with people.—
Steve Scauzillo,
Daily News,
28 Jan. 2026
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Andrew Fearn’s production on Planet X is typically circuitous, rigid loops pumping like factory machinery.—
Pete Tosiello,
Pitchfork,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Sophia wasn’t particularly talkative that evening.—
Dan Turello,
New Yorker,
10 Jan. 2026
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Lopez describes her daughter as an energetic, talkative child who speaks both English and Spanish.—
Leondra Head,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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But now, with The Night Manager three episodes deep on both sides of the Atlantic, the British producer is rather more loquacious.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
17 Jan. 2026
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Can any of them stand up to the current City Hall leader, a loquacious progressive champion who is struggling to execute his ambitions agenda?—
Laura Washington,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Periphrastic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/periphrastic. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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