Question

What are examples of circumlocution?

Answer 1

Hint: Poetry, music, and rhetorical speech all make extensive use of circumlocution. It is, in truth, the embellishment of combining different words in order to avoid saying what one does not want to say. Circumlocution is almost always a bad thing – consistency and directness are both characteristics of good writing, but their polar opposite (circumlocution) is almost always bad writing.

Complete answer:
Circumlocution - Circumlocution is described as "talking in circles" or "talking around." It's when you want to talk about something but don't want to mention it directly, so you come up with a way to avoid it.

Circumlocution is, for the most part, a mistake that occurs when the speaker is unable to come up with the correct, most succinct speech. But, as we'll see, there's sometimes a reason for the equivocation.
While circumlocution has a negative connotation, it can also be used to describe anything. A long and flowery passage can appear to one person to be a circumlocution. Others, on the other hand, can find the same passage convincing and creative. It depends on one's preferences and how much directness trumps flourishes.

Examples of circumlocution –
The dark lord Voldemort is often referred to as in the Harry Potter series as:
- who-knows-who
- He-who-must-not-be-named

These evasions are intended to prevent triggering Voldemort's curse, which can be triggered by simply saying his name. Many religious prohibitions on saying the names of divine or demonic figures exist around the world, and this euphemistic practice is similar to them.

-In many religious cultures, God is referred to by different names. As a result, they invent phrases like "Our Father Who Art in Heaven."

Note: “Periphrasis” is another term for “circumlocution.” Periphrasis is a grammatical concept and a way of speaking in which more words are used than are required to convey a specific meaning. For example, in a foreign language, a person may not know or remember the word for "bee" and instead say, "a yellow and black thing that makes honey."