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
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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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Claypool has missed the last five practices, and even while on the sideline during Monday’s practice, his talkative nature with some of the defenders did not go over well with the other side of the ball.—
Joe Buscaglia,
The Athletic,
5 Aug. 2024
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In 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, what starts as a not-so-meet-cute between the talkative Bridget (Renée Zellweger) and the offensive Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at a New Year's Eve party unfolds into one of the most swoon-worthy rom-coms the genre has to offer.—
Skyler Caruso,
People.com,
20 Dec. 2024
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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As in pro wrestling, each gesture needs to be the biggest, most exaggerated version of itself.—
James Poniewozik,
New York Times,
21 Jan. 2025
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Agave price volatility has been a recurring feature of the agave/Tequila market; however, the breadth of price changes is exaggerated.—
Joseph V Micallef,
Forbes,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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They were given the key by Williams, who, after a circuitous route, admitted to the murders, police said.—
Charles Rabin,
Miami Herald,
10 Jan. 2025
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The energy giant also continues to insist Moldova's outstanding debts make supplying the country by other circuitous routes — such as through a Russian-Turkish pipeline that tunnels under the Black Sea — untenable.—
Charles Maynes,
NPR,
9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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In this grid, Mr. Enfinger suggests a wordier option: TOOK A SHOT AT.—
Sam Corbin,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2025
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Chatty newsletters, wordy Substacks and quirky TikTok videos and Instagram stories rely more heavily on personality and emotion than do their TV and old-school print counterparts.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
6 Jan. 2025
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Thesaurus Entries Near circumlocutory
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“Circumlocutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumlocutory. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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