insinuate
verb /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/
/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they insinuate | /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/ /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/ |
| he / she / it insinuates | /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪts/ /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪts/ |
| past simple insinuated | /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪd/ /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪd/ |
| past participle insinuated | /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪd/ /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form insinuating | /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪŋ/ /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪtɪŋ/ |
- (usually disapproving) to suggest indirectly that something unpleasant is true synonym imply
- insinuate that… The article insinuated that he was having an affair with his friend's wife.
- insinuate something What are you trying to insinuate?
- an insinuating smile
- insinuate yourself into something (formal, disapproving) to succeed in gaining somebody’s respect, trust, etc. so that you can use the situation to your own advantage
- In the first act, the villain insinuates himself into the household of the man he intends to kill.
- insinuate yourself/something + adv./prep. (formal) to slowly move yourself or a part of your body into a particular position or place
- She insinuated her right hand under his arm.
Word Originearly 16th cent. (in the sense ‘enter (a document) on the official register’): from Latin insinuat- ‘introduced tortuously’, from the verb insinuare, from in- ‘in’ + sinuare ‘to curve’.