equivocate
verb
[ ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt ]
• use ambiguous language so as to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself.
• "the government have equivocated too often in the past"
Similar:
prevaricate,
be evasive,
be non-committal,
be vague,
be ambiguous,
evade/dodge the issue,
beat about the bush,
hedge,
hedge one's bets,
fudge the issue,
fence,
parry questions,
vacillate,
shilly-shally,
cavil,
waver,
quibble,
temporize,
hesitate,
stall (for time),
shuffle about,
hum and haw,
pussyfoot around,
waffle,
sit on the fence,
duck the issue/question,
flannel,
palter,
tergiversate,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘use a word in more than one sense’): from late Latin aequivocat- ‘called by the same name’, from the verb aequivocare, from aequivocus (see equivocal).
