as in ambiguity
deliberate evasion in speech
like many politicians, he has the gift for tergiversation
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tergiversation
Noun
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Cinema raises moral questions and asks us to endure ambiguity rather than resolve it prematurely.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
25 Feb. 2026 -
In the entrance room, a large-scale web of glass spheres suspended overhead evokes the ambiguity of safety and fear.—
Andrea Onate,
Footwear News,
25 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Friday’s move came with another roster shuffle.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
27 Feb. 2026
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At first, the fossil fragments were misidentified and then lost to the shuffle of international museum collections.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
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But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Jan. 2026
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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
Noun
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Today, many states stipulate that gestational surrogates have no parental rights—any equivocation on this matter would cause the country’s reproductive-tourism industry to collapse.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
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Americans have been roped even further into this dark, tragic story because of the president’s bizarre equivocation and emotional outbursts about it.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
31 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Tergiversation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tergiversation. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
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