euphuism means an ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “euphuism” is a great word
EUPHUISM — [Noun] An affected, highly ornate prose style characterized by excessive alliteration, antithesis, and elaborate mythological similes. From the name Euphues (from Ancient Greek ευφυής (euphuḗs, "graceful, witty")) + the suffix -ism, after the titular character in John Lyly's prose romance 'Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit' (1578). Unlike euphemism, which cloaks harsh truths in gentler terms, or the plain style, which pursues unadorned clarity, euphuism is artifice as its own elaborate end. It is the labored symmetry of a courtier's balanced clauses, the tinkling chime of paired alliterative words, and the brittle, glittering artifice of a borrowed classical reference—a fragile monument to the belief that elaborate form might conjure substance.
Etymology
From Euphues (Ancient Greek ευφυής (euphuḗs, “graceful, witty”)) + -ism, after the titular character in John Lyly’s didactic romance Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Lyly adopted the name from Roger Ascham’s The Scholemaster (published 1570), which describes Euphues as a type of student who is “apte by goodness of witte, and appliable by readiness of will, to learning, hauving all other qualities of the mind and parts of the body, that must an other day serue learning, not troubled, mangled, and halfed, but sound, whole, full & able to do their office”.
noun
- An ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes.“The second was a fancy, which amounts to a mania, for similes, strung together in endless lists[…]. It is impossible to open a page of Euphues without finding an example of this eccentric and tasteless trick, and in it, as far as in any single thing, must be found the recipe for euphuism, pure and simple.”
- An instance of euphuism.“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.”