as in rambling
using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea
the studio's statement that "the film's earnings did not live up to expectations" was a circumlocutory admission that the movie was a flop
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumlocutory
Adjective
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In the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey called 911 to report her 6-year-old daughter JonBenét missing, and found a rambling ransom note left inside their Boulder, Colorado, home.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
20 Dec. 2024 -
His statement came a day after the release of the Netflix series, which takes viewers back to the morning after Christmas 28 years ago, when JonBenét’s mother called 911 to report finding a rambling ransom note and her daughter missing.—
Elizabeth Chuck,
NBC News,
3 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Words, including those of artists themselves—as prolix in their way as critics, curators, and historians—can serve vision but can also deflect from it.—
Barry Schwabsky,
ARTnews.com,
3 Sep. 2019
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In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.—
Roberta Smith,
New York Times,
30 May 2024
Adjective
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Put two confident and talkative teen-agers on the court against each other, and the mics will catch some quips, and that’s what the viewers got with Waters & Patriquin trading winners and barbs all afternoon.—
Todd Boss,
Forbes,
17 Mar. 2025
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Clarabelle Cow With her signature cowbell, Clarabelle Cow is one of Mickey Mouse’s cheerful and talkative friends.—
Lauryn Higgins,
Parents,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The lawmaker said that the usable speech only came after four or five prompts that generated unusable material, either too verbose or oddly phrased, an illustration of how important the input into the AI is to the result.—
Globe Staff,
BostonGlobe.com,
25 Jan. 2023
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The verbose coach was at somewhat of a loss for words, opting to forgo opening remarks in his postgame press conference and instead diving right into questions.—
Tom Green | tgreen@al.com,
al,
18 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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The emotions always seem authentic, even when situations are exaggerated for comic effect.—
Stephen Saito,
Variety,
12 Mar. 2025
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Leather and trenchcoats held their ground and oversized proportions, mainly exaggerated hips and bold shoulders, added an element of drama.—
Rhonda Richford,
WWD,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Early Career The story of Martinez’s circuitous route to All-Stardom has been told time and again.—
Dan Freedman,
Forbes,
9 Mar. 2025
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Then, of course, what ensues is clearly a very circuitous path to righteousness.—
Angelique Jackson,
Variety,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Payton has said, both with Nix and Russell Wilson before, that the main point of the band is to shorten some of the wordiest play calls.—
Parker Gabriel,
The Denver Post,
4 Mar. 2025
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A week after the Succession alum made a throwaway joke about a certain someone's wordy speeches, Adrien Brody broke the record for longest Oscars acceptance speech.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
3 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Circumlocutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocutory. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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