from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
periphrastic
adj 1: roundabout and unnecessarily wordy; "had a preference for
circumlocutious (or circumlocutory) rather than
forthright expression"; "A periphrastic study in a worn-
out poetical fashion,/ Leaving one still with the
intolerable wrestle/ With words and meanings."-T.S.Eliot;
(`ambagious' is archaic) [syn: {circumlocutious},
{circumlocutory}, {periphrastic}, {ambagious}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Periphrastic \Per`i*phras"tic\, Periphrastical
\Per`i*phras"tic*al\, a. [Gr. ?: cf. F. p['e]riphrastique.]
Expressing, or expressed, in more words than are necessary;
characterized by periphrase; circumlocutory.
[1913 Webster]
{Periphrastic conjugation} (Gram.), a conjugation formed by
the use of the simple verb with one or more auxiliaries.
[1913 Webster]