Learn English – it called when you use many words to describe the word you want to use

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What is it called when you use many words to describe the word you want to use?

I know there is a technical word that's used in foreign language acquisition that means using many words to describe a word you don't know. I'm doing it now, just talking and beating around the bush until someone can tell me the word I'm looking for.

Best Answer

You are looking for circumlocution.

Circumlocution (also called circumduction, circumvolution, periphrasis, or ambage) is locution that circles around a specific idea with multiple words rather than directly evoking it with fewer and apter words.

  • For example, governmental income support to poor residents might be referred to as "welfare".

  • Roundabout speech refers to using many words (such as "a tool used for cutting things such as paper and hair") to describe something for which a concise (and commonly known) expression exists ("scissors").

  • The vast majority of definitions found in dictionaries are circumlocutory.

[Wikipedia]

OED definition of "circumlocution: "The use of many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive".