Synonyms of circumlocution

circumlocution

noun

ˌsər-kəm-lō-ˈkyü-shən 

1

as in ambiguity

deliberate evasion in speech

rather than answering the question directly, he resorted to circumlocution, which made her suspect that he was hiding something

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ambiguity
• shuffle
• tergiversation
• equivocation
• ambiguousness
• quibbling
• murkiness
• opacity
• nebulousness
• obscurity
• obscureness
• equivocalness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• frankness
• directness
• candor
• openness
• plainness
• forthrightness
• straightforwardness
• plumpness
• openheartedness

2

as in repetition

the use of too many words to express an idea

your papers have to be five pages long, but that's five pages of substance, not circumlocution

Synonyms & Similar Words

• repetition
• prolixity
• periphrasis
• wordiness
• garrulity
• verbosity
• diffusion
• garrulousness
• logorrhea
• wordage
• diffuseness
• verbalism
• repetitiveness
• verboseness
• windiness
• long-windedness
• verbiage
• redundancy
• tautology
• circularity
• exaggeration
• pleonasm
• hyperbole
• repetitiousness
• reiteration
• circuitousness
• overstatement
• digressiveness
• embellishment
• embroidering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• brevity
• compactness
• terseness
• conciseness
• concision
• succinctness
• crispness
• briefness
• pithiness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of circumlocution

But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness. — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2026

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

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

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