Adjacent Words

Equivocate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EQUIV'OCATE, v.i. To use words of a doubtful signification; to express one's opinions in terms which admit of different senses; to use ambiguous expressions. To equivocate is the dishonorable work of duplicity. The upright man will not equivocate in his intercourse with his fellow men.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information [syn: beat around the bush, equivocate, tergiversate, prevaricate, palter]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb (-cated; -cating) Date: 1590 1. to use equivocal language especially with intent to deceive 2. to avoid committing oneself in what one says Synonyms: see lie • equivocation noun • equivocator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. use ambiguity to conceal the truth. Derivatives: equivocation n. equivocator n. equivocatory adj. Etymology: ME f. LL aequivocare (as EQUIVOCAL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Equivocate E*quiv"o*cate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Equivocated; p. pr. & vb. n. Equivocating.] [L. aequivocatus, p. p. of aequivocari to be called by the same name, fr. L. aequivocus: cf. F. ['e]quivoquer. See Equivocal, a.] To use words of equivocal or doubtful signification; to express one's opinions in terms which admit of different senses, with intent to deceive; to use ambiguous expressions with a view to mislead; as, to equivocate is the work of duplicity. All that Garnet had to say for him was that he supposed he meant to equivocate. --Bp. Stillingfleet. Syn: To prevaricate; evade; shuffle; quibble. See Prevaricate.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Equivocate E*quiv"o*cate, v. t. To render equivocal or ambiguous. He equivocated his vow by a mental reservation. --Sir G. Buck.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(equivocates, equivocating, equivocated) When someone equivocates, they deliberately use vague language in order to deceive people or to avoid speaking the truth. He is equivocating a lot about what is going to happen if and when there are elections... He had asked her once again about her finances. And again she had equivocated. VERB: V about/over n, V • equivocation Why doesn't the President say so without equivocation? N-UNCOUNT: usu without N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Quibble, shuffle, dodge, fence, palter, evade the truth, use equivocal expressions (for the sake of deception). See prevaricate.

Moby Thesaurus

about the bush, alternate, around the bush, avoid, back and fill, be untruthful, beat about, beat around, beg the question, bicker, boggle, cavil, change, choplogic, deceive, dither, dodge, double-talk, draw the longbow, duck, elude, escape, eschew, evade, evade the issue, exaggerate, falsify, fence, fib, fluctuate, hedge, hem and haw, hum and haw, lie, lie flatly, mince the truth, mince words, mislead, mystify, nitpick, obscure, oscillate, palter, parry, pendulate, pick nits, prevaricate, pull away, pull back, pussyfoot, put off, quibble, recoil, sheer off, shift, shift off, shilly-shally, shrink, shuffle, shy, shy away, shy off, sidestep, skirt, speak falsely, split hairs, step aside, story, stretch the truth, swerve, teeter, tell a lie, tergiversate, totter, vacillate, vary, waffle, ward off, waver, weasel, wobble