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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, derogatory
Examples
- 1900. Century Magazine, quoted in Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1987)). Weasel words are words that suck all of the life out of the words next to them just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: hedge
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: qualifier
To use weasel words.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
an equivocal qualification; a word used to avoid making an outright assertion
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: reservation, qualification
Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's "wriggling, evasive character".
Across languages
Translations
5 source translations are retained for this English entry.
-
Chinese Mandarin:
狡辯之辭 /狡辩之辞
(jiǎobiànzhīcí)
— word used to qualify or hedge a statement
-
Dutch:
vaagtaal
— word used to qualify or hedge a statement
-
Dutch:
wezelwoord
— word used to qualify or hedge a statement
-
German:
schwammiger Begriff
— word used to qualify or hedge a statement
-
Turkish:
mana bozucu kelime
— word used to qualify or hedge a statement
