Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Equivocate |
EquivocateVerb1. Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "equivocate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1606. (references) |
Synonyms: EquivocateSynonyms: palter (v), prevaricate (v), tergiversate (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Equivocalness | Verb: be -equivocal; Adjective: have two meanings; equivocate; (alter). |
Falsehood | Prevaricate, equivocate, quibble; palter, palter to the understanding; repondre en Normand; trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose. |
Qualification | Waffle, quibble, hem and haw (be uncertain); equivocate (sophistry). |
Reasoning, | Pervert, quibble; equivocate, mystify, evade, elude; gloss over, varnish; misteach; mislead; (error); cavil, refine, subtilize, split hairs; misrepresent; (lie). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Equivocate |
| English words defined with "equivocate": Equivocated, Equivocating. (references) |
| Author | Quotation |
William Lloyd Garrison | I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse --I will not retreat a single inch --and I will be heard! |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Equivocate" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Equivocate" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 100% | 2 | 245,945 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "equivocate": equivocate sophistry. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "equivocate"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | errësoj kuptim, i shmangem përgjigjes, flas me dy kuptime (double talk). (various references) | |
Arabic | وارب (prevaricate, tergiversation), راوغ (dodge, elude, fudge, palter, prevaricate, quibble, rip off, squirm, weasel). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | усуквам (convolve, lay, palter, strand, tergiversate, throw, twist), говоря двусмислено (weasel), извъртам (boggle, dodge, double talk, pull round, screw, shift, shuffle, sophisticate, tergiversate, twist, wangle, whiffle). (various references) | |
Czech | mluvit vyhýbavì. (various references) | |
Farsi | زبان بازی کردن (Prevaricate, Quibble), ابهام بکاربردن , دوپهلوحرف زدن (Prevaricate), دروغ گفتن (Belie, Gab, Prevaricate, Weasel, Whiff). (various references) | |
French | user de faux-fuyants, tergiverser, équivoquer. (various references) | |
German | zweideutig reden. (various references) | |
Greek | αμφιλέγω, διφορούμαι. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ל"ביע בצור" "ו משמעית. (various references) | |
Hungarian | mellébeszél (make a slip in speaking, to blow smoke, to fudge, to fudge on sg, to palter, to prevaricate, to shuffle), kétértelmûen beszél. (various references) | |
Indonesian | berkilah (quibble), berdalih (quibble). (various references) | |
Italian | esprimersi in modo ambiguo. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 言い紛らす (to equivocate). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | いいまぎらす (to equivocate). (various references) | |
Manx | screeu dy daa cheayllagh, loayr (extemporise, speak, talk away). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | equivocateay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | equivocar-se (mistake, misunderstand), usar frases equívocas. (various references) | |
Romanian | vorbi în echivocuri (palter with). (various references) | |
Russian | увиливать (dodge, prevaricate, shirk, shuffle). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | okolišati (beat about the bush, pussyfoot). (various references) | |
Spanish | usar equívocos, decir algo ambiguamente, dar una respuesta ambigua. (various references) | |
Swedish | yttra sig tvetydigt, slingra sig (fence, hedge, loop, meander, prevaricate, quibble, snake, squiggle, tergiversate, trail, twist, wander, weave, wriggle), komma med undanflykter (fence, hedge, make excuses, prevaricate excuses, stall). (various references) | |
Turkish | lastikli sözcükler kullanmak, kelime oyunu yapmak (pun, quibble), kaçamaklı konuşmak (tergiversate). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ухилятися (avoid, back out, balk, blench, crawfish, depart, digress, dodge, elude, eschew, evade, flunk, jink, obviate, prevaricate, shirk, shuffle, sidestep, squirm, weasel, weave, wriggle), говорити двозначно. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "equivocate": equivocated, equivocates. (additional references) | |
| |
"Equivocate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: equevocate, equivicate, equivoate. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "equivocate" (pronounced ikwi"vukā't) |
| 4 | -u k ā' t | allocate, aluminosilicate, abdicate, authenticate, communicate, complicate, dedicate, deprecate, domesticate, educate, eradicate, excommunicate, extricate, fabricate, indicate, intoxicate, misallocate, pontificate, predicate, prognosticate, reciprocate, rededicate, reeducate, replicate, suffocate. |
| 3 | -k ā' t | adjudicate, bifurcate, cheapskate, confiscate, implicate, inculcate, locate, lubricate, medicate, obfuscate, prefabricate, sophisticate, truncate. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-i-o-q-t-u-v" | |
-2 letters: coequate. | |
-4 letters: acquit, active, avocet, caique, coatee, coquet, coteau, equate, octave, outvie. | |
-5 letters: acute, cavie, civet, coati, covet, cutie, evict, evite, ovate, quate, quiet, quite, quoit, quota, quote, toque, vatic, vitae, voice. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-i-o-q-t-u-v" | |
+1 letter: equivocated, equivocates. | |
+4 letters: equivocalities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Quotations: Familiar | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
