ambage

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

Inherited from Middle English ambages, from French ambage as well as its etymon Latin ambāgēs (“a roundabout or circuitous path”).

To this end every member doth of the choicest and most precious of its nourishment pare and cut off a portion, then instantly despatcheth it downwards to that place where nature hath prepared for it very fit vessels and receptacles, through which descending to the genitories by long ambages, circuits, and flexuosities, it receiveth a competent form, and rooms apt enough both in man and woman for the future conservation and perpetuating of human kind. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

circumlocution, periphrasis

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