From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishperiphrasispe‧riph‧ra‧sis /pəˈrɪfrəsɪs/ noun (plural periphrases /-siːz/) [countable, uncountable] 1 AL formal when someone uses long words or phrases that are not necessary2 technicalSLG the use of auxiliary words instead of inflected forms —periphrastic /ˌperəˈfræstɪk◂/ adjectiveOrigin periphrasis (1500-1600) Latin Greek, from periphrazein “to express in a periphrastic way”
