In a sentence
Six example sentences with circumlocution, each labelled with its topic.
Her memo buried a simple layoff notice under so much circumlocution that nobody in the department understood they had been dismissed.
Business
The novel's narrator answers every question with such circumlocution that a reader waits four pages for a single yes.
Literature
Asked whether taxes would rise, the minister produced two minutes of circumlocution and never once said the word yes.
Politics
The contract's circumlocution runs to three pages before it states the simple fact that the tenant pays for repairs.
Law
Some philosophers hide a thin idea inside so much circumlocution that a reader needs an hour to find the claim.
Philosophy
The grant application's circumlocution buried a clear hypothesis under twelve paragraphs of hedging.
Science
Study circumlocution until you keep it
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Found in these word lists
Found in 6 published word listsRecognized
Each source is a published word list that contains circumlocution. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.