as in to weasel
to avoid giving a definite answer or position shamelessly tergiversating, the witness replied, "Well, it depends upon what your definition of 'truth' is"

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tergiversate
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
Verb
  • But plans were never set in stone, and Irvine equivocated as to where in the city the cemetery should go.
    Jonathan Horwitz, Oc Register, 28 May 2025
  • The policy initiatives that emerge, unsurprisingly, have an air of indecision and equivocating.
    Milan Vaishnav, Foreign Affairs, 4 Nov. 2019
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Tergiversate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tergiversate. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.

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