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periphrasis
WIKTIONARY
periphrasis
Noun
  • ∙ The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
  • ∙ Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking. linguistics
  • ∙ The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a species of circumlocution) rhetoric
  • ∙ The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it. rhetoric
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