Legal Definitions - periphrasis

Periphrasis refers to the use of an unnecessarily long or indirect way of expressing something that could be stated more concisely. It involves using multiple words to describe a concept or object when a single word or a more direct phrase would suffice, often making communication less clear or more formal than necessary.

• Example 1: Bureaucratic Communication

  Imagine a government agency responding to a public inquiry about why a certain project was delayed. Instead of simply stating, "The project was delayed due to budget cuts," they might write, "The initiation of the aforementioned infrastructural development encountered a temporary deferment attributable to a recalibration of fiscal allocations within the current budgetary cycle."

  This illustrates periphrasis because the agency uses many complex words and phrases to convey a simple message (budget cuts caused a delay), making the communication less direct and harder to understand for the general public.

• Example 2: Witness Testimony

  During a cross-examination, a witness is asked, "Did you see the defendant leave the building?" Instead of a direct "Yes" or "No," the witness replies, "My visual perception at that particular moment in time was directed towards the egress point, and I observed an individual whose physical characteristics were consistent with those of the accused party departing the premises."

  Here, the witness employs periphrasis by using an overly elaborate description to avoid a simple, direct answer, potentially to obscure certainty or create ambiguity in their testimony.

• Example 3: Professional Announcement

  A manager needs to inform their team about a minor update to the company's expense report system. Instead of saying, "We're updating our expense report system next week," they might announce, "In an effort to streamline our fiscal accountability protocols and enhance the efficiency of resource allocation documentation, we are implementing a revised methodology for the submission and processing of expenditure declarations, effective next week."

  This demonstrates periphrasis because a straightforward announcement is transformed into a verbose and indirect statement, making a simple procedural change sound more complex and formal than it needs to be.