as in to weasel
to avoid giving a definite answer or position
the candidate equivocated as long as he could on controversial issues
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in ambiguity
deliberate evasion in speech
your equivocation when asked where you were last night is not reassuring
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ambiguousness
the quality or state of having a veiled or uncertain meaning
the equivocation of the last line of the poem, "That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of equivocate
Chris Morris, Fortune, 29 Nov. 2024
Asked in a recent interview with Vanity Fair if homophobia limited his opportunities, Lane equivocated a bit and then offered one specific example.
—Tom Tapp, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2025
Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 19 Jan. 2025
This moral equivocation has sent a signal of impunity to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who now openly threatens Armenia's sovereignty.
—John Mac Ghlionn, Newsweek, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for equivocate
Verb
Hoping to entice equivocating consumers, retailers already have spent weeks bombarding customers with ads and early offers.
—Chris Morris, Fortune, 29 Nov. 2024
Asked in a recent interview with Vanity Fair if homophobia limited his opportunities, Lane equivocated a bit and then offered one specific example.
—Tom Tapp, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2025
Noun
Your moral equivocation about a deliberate hit to the head is offensive.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 19 Jan. 2025
This moral equivocation has sent a signal of impunity to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who now openly threatens Armenia's sovereignty.
—John Mac Ghlionn, Newsweek, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for equivocate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for equivocate
Verb
-
One of Wishman’s most Sapphic films is this gritty black-and-white sexploitation shocker about assassins who weasel their way into an apartment shared by two lesbians in order to kill a foreign dignitary.—
Erik Piepenburg,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
-
Trying to weasel things by providing additional levels is abhorrent.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
20 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Leading in ongoing ambiguity demands emotional endurance, narrative agility and the strength to stay grounded while evolving at speed.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
-
Director Flanagan handles the escalating insanity with suggestive ambiguity, nothing too bombastic for as long as the story allows.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
6 June 2025
Verb
-
Carnal, with care – Jis shook the bedrock of the cordial, conservative Guadalajara community with filth, camp and candor.—
Holly Jones,
Variety,
9 June 2025
-
The bizarre blackouts are first explained with a bizarre hit-and-run that shook Larkin months earlier.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
8 June 2025
Noun
-
John Cena walked into WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas with the polite shuffle of a man reporting for overtime.—
Oliver Bateman,
The Washington Examiner,
30 May 2025
-
Hours later, the shuffle within the agency was announced.—
Dan Gooding
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 May 2025
Noun
-
Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
16 Nov. 2023
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By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself.—
Giles Harvey,
The New York Review of Books,
23 Apr. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Equivocate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/equivocate. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025.
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