• Euphuism

    Origin

    From Lyly's Euphues.

    Full definition of euphuism

    Noun

    euphuism

    (plural euphuisms)
    1. (uncountable) An ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes.
    2. An example of euphuism.
      • 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, I have not the slightest faith in Carlyle. In ten years–possibly in five–he will be remembered only as a butt for sarcasm. His linguistic Euphuisms might very well have been taken as prima facie evidence of his philosophic ones; they were the froth which indicated, first, the shallowness, and secondly, the confusion of the waters.

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