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
Laura Kelly, The Hill, 7 Feb. 2025
Less than 10 minutes into a British parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, during which a Shein representative equivocated on questions relating to the e-tail Goliath’s supply chain and a potential public float, a visibly frustrated Member of Parliament made his feelings known in no uncertain terms.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 7 Jan. 2025
Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 May 2025
Now is not the time for equivocation or delay.
—Dr. Josh Green, CNN Money, 5 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for equivocate
Verb
Critics further condemn equivocating between Israel, as a democracy, and Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., Israel and by the European Union.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 7 Feb. 2025
Less than 10 minutes into a British parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, during which a Shein representative equivocated on questions relating to the e-tail Goliath’s supply chain and a potential public float, a visibly frustrated Member of Parliament made his feelings known in no uncertain terms.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 7 Jan. 2025
Noun
The very title of the exhibition, the first Conceptualist project to use photocopy as a medium, signals a deliberate equivocation over nothing less than the ontology of the art object.
—Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 May 2025
Now is not the time for equivocation or delay.
—Dr. Josh Green, CNN Money, 5 Apr. 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
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Young people lack experience with the awkward pauses of conversation, the ambiguity of social cues, and the grit required to make up with a hurt or angry friend.—
Russell Shaw,
The Atlantic,
11 July 2025
-
Poker Face has played fast and loose with how Charlie’s gift actually works, an intentional ambiguity that only gets more complicated with the reveal that actually, yeah, Charlie can be lied to.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Verb
-
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić shaking hands after signing bilateral documents during a meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, on May 8, 2024.—
Ryan Chan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 July 2025
-
Nikki Bella and Lola Vice were shaking their hips in the middle of the ring, and Wade Barrett encouraged Michael Cole to show them what he’s got.—
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Noun
-
Behind the counter, between the shuffle of cooks and kitchen staff, Dengeos owner Nick Theodosis shows off the key to the joint’s long-running success: three large machines, each with its own cone of rotating, sizzling gyro meat.—
Charlie Kolodziej,
Chicago Tribune,
14 July 2025
-
The downside of this route is that digital books can easily get lost in the shuffle of crowded devices.—
Vikrant Shaurya,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Noun
-
Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 July 2025
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Equivocate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/equivocate. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.
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