circumlocution

circumlocution
    n 1: a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things
         [syn: {circumlocution}, {periphrasis}, {ambage}]
    2: an indirect way of expressing something [syn:
       {circumlocution}, {indirect expression}]
    

Circumlocution \Cir`cum*lo*cu"tion\, n. [L. circumlocutio, fr.
   circumloqui, -locutus, to make use of circumlocution; circum
   + loqui to speak. See {Loquacious}.]
   The use of many words to express an idea that might be
   expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language; a
   periphrase.
   [1913 Webster]

         the plain Billingsgate way of calling names . . . would
         save abundance of time lost by circumlocution. --Swift.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Circumlocution office}, a term of ridicule for a
      governmental office where business is delayed by passing
      through the hands of different officials.
      [1913 Webster]
    

68 Moby Thesaurus words for "circumlocution":
      ambages, anfractuosity, circling, circuition, circuitousness,
      circuitry, circularity, circulation, circumambages, circumambience,
      circumambiency, circumambulation, circumbendibus, circumflexion,
      circummigration, circumnavigation, circumvolution, convolution,
      crinkle, crinkling, deviance, deviancy, deviation, deviousness,
      digression, excursion, excursus, flexuosity, flexuousness, gyre,
      gyring, indirection, intorsion, involution, meander, meandering,
      obliqueness, orbit, orbiting, periphrase, periphrasis, pleonasm,
      redundancy, rivulation, roundabout, roundaboutness, rounding,
      sinuation, sinuosity, sinuousness, slinkiness, snakiness, spiral,
      spiraling, tautology, torsion, tortility, tortuosity, tortuousness,
      turn, turning, twisting, undulation, verbality, wave, waving,
      wheeling, winding