Can you use "circumlocution" in a sentence?
1 Answer
Circumlocution is when you want to discuss something, but don’t want to make any direct reference to it, so you create a way to get around the subject.
Explanation:
There are different ways of expressing yourself in the English language - you can be direct, indirect, flowery, poetic, etc... Circumlocution, or the ability to refer to something in a roundabout way without actually directly mentioning what it is that we're really talking about, is one way of changing direct language, and perhaps brutally honest language, into something more polite or softer or easier on the ears.
For instance, a woman could say:
"I'm pregnant"
or
"I'm expecting to bring new life into this world"
A child might perhaps ask about his missing father and the exchange could go something like this:
Child: Mom, where's dad?
Mom: The mortuary. He was killed by a drunk driver yesterday.
or perhaps Mom could say:
Mom: He's not with us anymore. The angels saw fit to release him from his pain when he was hit by another driver yesterday.
