euphemism
Pluraleuphemisms
- 1A word or phrase used in place of another that is more offensive, blunt, or vulgar.
The company called the layoffs a "workforce adjustment," a euphemism that fooled no one.
The briefing was full of euphemisms, with "collateral damage" standing in for civilian deaths.
Oppositedysphemism
Note
One soft word standing in for a hard one, and it is usually a euphemism for something. James Beattie, writing before 1803, notes that saying St. Stephen "fell asleep" rather than died is a euphemism shading into metaphor. George Carlin's complaint in 2004 was blunter: euphemisms shade the truth. A genteelism is the prim, polite kind.
- 2The practice of replacing a word or phrase with another that is less offensive, blunt, or vulgar.
Official reports on the war relied so heavily on euphemism that the casualties barely sounded real.
Some doctors avoid euphemism and tell patients plainly that they are dying.
Note
The idea is older than the word. Its Greek source, eúphēmos, described speaking words of good omen and keeping back unlucky ones; English has used euphemism since 1656. As the uncountable name of a habit, it often draws criticism: George Orwell, in 1946, saw euphemism rather than imperfect analogy as the real danger to clear thinking.
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Origin
Recorded since 1656; from Ancient Greek εὐφημισμός (euphēmismós), from εὐφημίζω (euphēmízō), from εὔφημος (eúphēmos, "uttering sound of good omen, abstaining from inauspicious words"), from εὖ (eû, "well") + φήμη (phḗmē, "a voice, a prophetic voice, rumor, talk"), from φημί (phēmí, "to speak, say").