An inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh.

Roget 577: ornament; floridness c^†.    adj.. turgidity, turgescence^†; altiloquence etc. adj.^†; declamation, teratology^†; well-rounded periods; elegance etc. 578; orotundity.    inversion, antithesis, alliteration, paronomasia; figurativeness etc. (metaphor) 521.    flourish; flowers of speech, flowers of rhetoric; frills of style, euphuism^†, euphemism.    big-sounding words, high-sounding words; macrology^†, sesquipedalia verba [Lat.], Alexandrine; inflation, pretension; rant, bombast, fustian, prose run mad; fine writing; sesquipedality^†; Minerva press.    phrasemonger; euphuist^†, euphemist.    ... show more

Roget 933: flattery, adulation, gloze; blandishment, blandiloquence^†; cajolery; fawning, wheedling etc. v.; captation^†, coquetry, obsequiousness, sycophancy, flunkeyism^†, toadeating^†, tuft-hunting; snobbishness.    incense, honeyed words, flummery; bunkum, buncombe; blarney, placebo, butter; soft soap, soft sawder^†; rose water.    voice of the charmer, mouth honor; lip homage; euphemism; unctuousness etc. adj.. ... show more

Dutch: eufemisme, verbloeming
Polish: eufemizm