Circumlocution

The periphrasis (Greek περί peri, around ' and φράζειν phrazein talk '; Latin circumlocutio ) is an expanding description of a concept, a person or a situation.

Examples:

• Demigods in white ( doctors)
• The father of the economic miracle ( Ludwig Erhard )
• Pressed milk (cheese)
• That higher being who we worship (God)
• The Almighty (God)
• The eye of the law ( police)
• The land of milk and honey, the Promised Land ( Canaan )
• The Holy Land (Israel )

Periphrases are often used to avoid the repetition of a word. They are also used to euphemistically issues, such as deceases instead of die.

For example doctor as opposite of a periphrasis, a denotation be considered, as is the denotation of periphrasis demigod in white.

See also: Paraphrase - antonomasia - stylistic devices - trope ( rhetoric )