elegant variation

elegant variation
a form of journalese characterized by the over use of synonyms for fear of repeating a word; best avoided by the use of pronouns or repetition

Example: Tony Blair visited the town today. The Prime Minister saw the new theatre. The British leader left in the afternoon.


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  • Elegant variation — is a phrase coined by Henry Watson Fowler to refer to the unnecessary use of synonyms to mean a single thing. In Modern English Usage (1926) he wrote:: It is the second rate writers, those intent rather on expressing themselves prettily than on… …   Wikipedia

  • elegant variation — is the name Fowler (1926) gave to a celebrated article, nearly six columns long, on misguided avoidance of repetition which leads the user into stylistic traps that are anything but elegant, such as using women and ladies, cases and instances, or …   Modern English usage

  • elegant variation — …   Useful english dictionary

  • Litblog — A Litblog (alternate: lit blog or literary blog) is a blog that focuses primarily on the topic of literature. There is a community of litblogs in the blogosphere whose authors cover a variety of literary topics. Litbloggers may write about… …   Wikipedia

  • poetry — poetryless, adj. /poh i tree/, n. 1. the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts. 2. literary work in metrical form; verse. 3. prose with poetic qualities. 4. poetic… …   Universalium

  • Wechsel im Ausdruck — Der Wechsel im Ausdruck ist eine Rhetorische Figur, die eine durch Wiederholung verursachte Monotonie vermeiden soll. Die Vermeidung erfolgt dabei beispielsweise durch Verwendung von Synonymen, einer Abstraktion oder Umschreibungen (Periphrasen)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • fine writing — Synonyms and related words: adornment, beauties, calligraphy, colors, colors of rhetoric, copybook hand, elegant penmanship, elegant variation, embellishment, embroidery, fair hand, figure, figure of speech, fine hand, floridity, floridness,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • figure — Synonyms and related words: Aristotelian sorites, Establishment, Goclenian sorites, Platonic body, Platonic form, Platonic idea, VIP, accept, acclaim, acknowledge, act, acute angled triangle, add, adornment, adumbrate, advert to, aesthetic form,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • ornament — Synonyms and related words: acciaccatura, add, adjoin, adjunct, adorn, adornment, affix, agglutinate, anacrusis, annex, append, appoggiatura, arabesque, arrangement, array, asiaticism, attach, bass passage, beauties, beautify, bedeck, bedizen,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Kenning — A kenning (Old Norse kenning [cʰɛnːiŋg] , Modern Icelandic pronunciation [cʰɛnːiŋk] ) is a circumlocution used instead of an ordinary noun in Old Norse and later Icelandic poetry. For example, Old Norse poets might replace sverð , the regular… …   Wikipedia

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