Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of circumlocution 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 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 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 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 Mungiu, like many Romanian directors, has a sadistic streak for circumlocution. Jordan Hoffman, VanityFair.com, 6 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocution
Noun
  • Young people lack experience with the awkward pauses of conversation, the ambiguity of social cues, and the grit required to make up with a hurt or angry friend.
    Russell Shaw, The Atlantic, 11 July 2025
  • Poker Face has played fast and loose with how Charlie’s gift actually works, an intentional ambiguity that only gets more complicated with the reveal that actually, yeah, Charlie can be lied to.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 July 2025
Noun
  • Share learnings with the team to build trust and prevent repetition.
    Gisela Carere, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
  • These lessons are essential not only for historical literacy but also for understanding and preventing the repetition of past mistakes.
    Jane Tanaka, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 July 2025
Noun
  • The downside of this route is that digital books can easily get lost in the shuffle of crowded devices.
    Vikrant Shaurya, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
  • Behind the counter, between the shuffle of cooks and kitchen staff, Dengeos owner Nick Theodosis shows off the key to the joint’s long-running success: three large machines, each with its own cone of rotating, sizzling gyro meat.
    Charlie Kolodziej, Chicago Tribune, 14 July 2025
Noun
  • The film attempts some equivocation with the enemy: while the sword-wielding commanding officer (Taki Abe) is a monster; the army engineer in charge of construction (Masa Yamaguchi) just wants to get the job done.
    Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 15 Feb. 2025
  • Now, no public voice is permitted much equivocation.
    Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 16 May 2025
Noun
  • But Sieh is the standout, emitting a complex blend of sardonic acceptance, cynical verbosity and submerged emotional longing.
    Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2025
  • Coogler can let his characters’ verbosity get the better of story momentum.
    Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • In part because of these features, diffusion models don’t pay any attention to where a particular patch will fit into the final image.
    Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 30 June 2025
  • Nevertheless, some on Wall Street are still wondering what the Trump administration has in mind to replace the Biden AI diffusion policy.
    Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 8 May 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
Noun
  • On their website, the three yellow stripes are prominently featured on the website under the Black Lives Matter wordage, and used on their social media accounts.
    Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Reached by the Union-Tribune Wednesday morning, Lindsey differed with McGillis’ wordage.
    Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Mar. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Circumlocution.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocution. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.

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