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Equivocate   /ɪkwˈɪvəkˌeɪt/   Listen
Equivocate

verb
(past & past part. equivocated; pres. part. equivocating)
1.
Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.  Synonyms: beat around the bush, palter, prevaricate, tergiversate.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Equivocate" Quotes from Famous Books



... question, put with the most gentle courtesy, but yet in a straightforward manner; and if Ashton had wished in any way to equivocate, he felt he could not do so without utterly destroying his chances of employment. To do him justice, however, let us state he never, even for a moment, entertained a thought of so doing. He felt he was being weighed in the balance, and would probably be found wanting, but ...
— From Wealth to Poverty • Austin Potter

... are, after all, a kind of lying,—faint lies or awkward lies, but still lies; and some of these disputants infer, that therefore we must not equivocate, and others that equivocation is but a half-measure, and that it is better to say at once that in certain cases ...
— Apologia Pro Vita Sua • John Henry Cardinal Newman

... non [Lat.]; catch, string, strings attached; exemption; exception, escape clause, salvo, saving clause; discount &c 813; restriction; fine print. V. qualify, limit, modify, leaven, give a color to, introduce new conditions, narrow, temper. waffle, quibble, hem and haw (be uncertain) 475; equivocate (sophistry) 477. depend, depend on, be contingent on (effect) 154. allow for, make allowance for; admit exceptions, take into account; modulate. moderate, temper, season, leaven. take exception. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... eh, darling! You want to see the other side of the mountain." He pressed her to him lovingly. "Of course" (with masculine inconsistency Bob was beginning to equivocate) "I may not be able to sell my water-right and the enemy may elect to play a waiting game and starve me out. In that case, it would not be fair to you to burden you with a husband whose sole assets are his dreams and ...
— The Long Chance • Peter B. Kyne

... started the "Liberator." Read the declaration of this poor young man with "no chance," in the very first issue: "I will be as harsh as truth, as uncompromising as justice. I am in earnest. I will not equivocate, I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard." What audacity for a young man, with the ...
— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden

... enough, when we had passed out of the Gulf Stream and the sea had smoothed itself out, I made a speedy and satisfactory recovery; but if it had been seasickness I should have confessed it in a minute. I have no patience with those who quibble and equivocate in regard to their having ...
— Europe Revised • Irvin S. Cobb

... "They did—that is—" Helen was visibly embarrassed. She could not equivocate, neither could she go into details of a family history. She hesitated a moment and said, "Little Dorothy was not with them ...
— Hester's Counterpart - A Story of Boarding School Life • Jean K. Baird



Words linked to "Equivocate" :   equivocation, palter, beat around the bush, equivocator, prevaricate, misinform, mislead



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