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
  • Trying to weasel things by providing additional levels is abhorrent.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Nov. 2024
  • But when Douglas doesn’t invite her to the business dinner, the show suddenly takes a turn into wacky sitcom territory, with Maxine trying to weasel her way into Douglas’s business to meet and invite the Prince to the Beach Ball.
    Tom Smyth, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2024
Verb
  • The policy initiatives that emerge, unsurprisingly, have an air of indecision and equivocating.
    Milan Vaishnav, Foreign Affairs, 4 Nov. 2019
  • 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
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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Cite this Entry

“Tergiversate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tergiversate. Accessed 2 May. 2025.

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