Euphemism Examples

Euphemism Examples Euphemism A euphemism is a word or phrase that is substituted for a word or phrase that is considered to be too straightforward or blunt when referring to something sad, distasteful, or upsetting. Examples of Euphemism: Passed away = dead Early retirement = fired/let go Economically disadvantaged = poor Misspoke = lied In the family way = pregnant big-boned = fat Examples of Euphemism in Literature: Shakespeare often used euphemism to refer to sex: In Othello, he referred to sex as "making the beast with two backs." In Antony and Cleopatra, he referred to sex as "plowed" and becoming pregnant as "cropped": "He plowed her and she cropped." Thomas Hardy's poem "Afterwards" includes many euphemisms for death: "When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay" "If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink, The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades" "If I pass during some nocturnal blackness" "If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,"