tergiversate

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“
The testimony which stirred up the bile of the holy fathers could not but be given, unless you had been willing basely to tergiversate and to expose yourself to their taunts. "

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. intransitive verb To use evasions or ambiguities; equivocate.
  2. intransitive verb To change sides; apostatize.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (1)

  • The testimony which stirred up the bile of the holy fathers could not but be given, unless you had been willing basely to tergiversate and to expose yourself to their taunts. " —  The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2)
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin tergiversārī, tergiversāt- : tergum, the back + versāre, to turn; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin tergiversatus, past participle of tergiversari, turn one's back, shift: see tergiverse.
 

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/ˈtərdʒɪvərseɪt/
by American Heritage

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