ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Periphrasis

Periphrasis is a big word that means using lots of words to explain something instead of just one word. For example, instead of saying "big," you might say "very large." Even though that's two words, it means the same thing as "big." People might use periphrasis to make something sound fancier or more important. But sometimes it's just a different way of saying the same thing.