| / English Dictionary |
EQUIVOCATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language
Synonyms:
equivocation; tergiversation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("equivocation" is a kind of...):
falsification; misrepresentation (a willful perversion of facts)
Derivation:
equivocate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Intentionally vague or ambiguous
Synonyms:
equivocation; evasiveness; prevarication
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("equivocation" is a kind of...):
ambiguity; equivocalness (unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning)
untruthfulness (the quality of being untruthful)
Derivation:
equivocate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth
Synonyms:
equivocation; evasion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("equivocation" is a kind of...):
deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "equivocation"):
circumlocution; indirect expression (an indirect way of expressing something)
doublespeak (any language that pretends to communicate but actually does not)
hedge; hedging (an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement)
cavil; quibble; quiddity (an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections)
Derivation:
equivocate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)
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