Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To use equivocal language intentionally.
- v. To avoid making an explicit statement. See Synonyms at lie2.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To use words of a doubtful signification; express one's opinions in terms which admit of different interpretations; specifically, to use ambiguous expressions with a view to mislead; prevaricate.
- To render equivocal; render false or lying.
- Having a double signification.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive 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.
- v. To render equivocal or ambiguous.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. 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.
- v. To render equivocal or ambiguous.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin aequivocātus, perfect passive participle of aequivocō ("I am called by the same name"), from Late Latin aequivocus ("ambiguous, equivocal"): confer French équivoquer. See equivocal. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English equivocaten, from Medieval Latin aequivocāre, aequivocāt-, from Late Latin aequivocus, equivocal; see equivocal. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The safe bet is that Democrats will again equivocate to avoid what would, by necessity, be the impeachment of the Vice President.”
“There is also another meaning of the word equivocate in popular usage.”
“If I had stuck with the word all and given Vorster a little room to equivocate, I might have left the diplomats a little happier and given Vorster less chance to demagogue the event for home consumption.”
“First, you equivocate over warming in the past and contemporary warming; the second is the “complex question” form in which you lowball your estimates at the end.”
“Likewise equivocate AbsoluteWriters Water Cooler for info as good as inspiration.”
“Bathers have been suggested to equivocate a H2O from Wednesday in to a weekend.”
“Some of his unfamiliar travels competence have been entirely motivated by a search for amicable progress, nonetheless his multiform hospitalizations abroad do raise a possibility which he hoped to equivocate broadside about his illness.”
“In on foot after a suggestion you contingency equivocate all haste.”
“I would equivocate this netbook at all costs - not even value $100.”
“Raised beds can be accessed from all sides, to illustrate eliminating a need to constantly have to equivocate treading upon crops or seedlings.”
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Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘equivocate’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Familiar
Just a list of words
fulminate, unctuous, malediction, lumpenproletariat, descry, surfeit, sententious, supernumerary, unabashed, picayune, obliterate, decry and 109 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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SAT 2
platitude, parsimonious, perspicacious, catharsis, captious, munificent, penurious, arid, portentous, ossified, nascent, perfidy and 13 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 481 more...
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GRE
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 107 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for equivocate.
Prolagus I am in earnest
I will not equivocate
I will not excuse
I will not retreat a single inch;
and I will be heard.
William Lloyd Garrison Mar 12, 2008
padawan equivocate: to mislead.
equivocarse: to be mistaken. Jan 9, 2008