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circumlocution

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circumlocution

Roundabout, verbose way of speaking or writing when someone tries to appear impressive or is being deliberately unclear, perhaps to disguise the truth.

Charles Dickens in the novel Little Dorrit, 1857, invented the Circumlocution Office as a satirical representation of a typical government department.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
If I might offer any apology for so exaggerated a fiction as the Barnacles and the Circumlocution Office, I would seek it in the common experience of an Englishman, without presuming to mention the unimportant fact of my having done that violence to good manners, in the days of a Russian war, and of a Court of Inquiry at Chelsea.
Little Dorrit by Dickens, Charles View in context
The Moors have a small opinion of England, France, and America, and put their representatives to a deal of red-tape circumlocution before they grant them their common rights, let alone a favor.
The Innocents Abroad by Twain, Mark View in context
The circumlocution has been in vain--you must have guessed it--Ikey adored Rosy.
The Four Million by Henry, O. View in context
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