equivocate
verb /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt/
/ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt/
[intransitive, transitive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they equivocate | /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt/ /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt/ |
| he / she / it equivocates | /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪts/ /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪts/ |
| past simple equivocated | /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪd/ /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪd/ |
| past participle equivocated | /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪd/ /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form equivocating | /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪŋ/ /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪtɪŋ/ |
- to talk about something in a way that is deliberately not clear in order to avoid or hide the truth
- Lincoln hated slavery but equivocated in public statements about racial equality.
- + speech ‘I'm not sure,’ she equivocated.
Word Originlate 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, from Latin aequus ‘equally’ + vocare ‘to call’.