: Re: What is it called when an author uses vague words for concrete concepts, "hedging"? As an editor for an academic press, my pet peeve is when authors write sentences like "attempt to conceive

@Sent2472441

Vote Up Vote Down

Circumlocution.

Locution that circles around a specific idea with multiple words rather than directly evoking it with fewer and apter words.

Check the wiki article here.

Update

As an author, you'll sometimes want to use those either to avoid repetition (some sentences have the tendency to come out more often than you'd like), or specifically to avoid 'getting straight to the point'.

In your example, the circumlocution is used for this exactly; the sentence doesn't simply want say someone is trying to do X, but insisting on the fact that the whole process of 'trying' is not as straightfoward as the word alone might imply. It gives you greater detail to the process, and does have a nicer phrasing as well.

(0)

Login to post a comment!