Tergiversation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Tergiversation \Ter`gi*ver*sa"tion\, n. [L. tergiversario: cf.
     F. tergiversation.]
     1. The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge;
        evasion.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Writing is to be preferred before verbal
              conferences, as being freer from passions and
              tergiversations.                      --Abp.
                                                    Bramhall.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The colonel, after all his tergiversations, lost his
              life in the king's service.           --Clarendon.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  tergiversation
       n 1: falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language [syn:
            {equivocation}]
       2: the act of abandoning a party or cause [syn: {apostasy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  18 Moby Thesaurus words for "tergiversation":
     about-face, amphibology, apostasy, denial, desertion, disavowal,
     double entendre, double meaning, equivocality, equivocation,
     equivoque, falseness, forswearing, recreancy, renunciation,
     repudiation, reversal, reverse