| Main Entry: | circumlocution |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | indirect speech |
Synonyms: |
beating around the bush, circumambages, diffuseness, discursiveness, euphemism, gassiness, indirectness, periphrase, periphrasis, pleonasm, prolixity, roundabout, tautology, verbal evasion, verbality, verbiage, wordiness |
Antonyms: |
conciseness, directness, straightforwardness, terseness |
| Main Entry: | elude |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid; escape |
Synonyms: |
baffle, be beyond someone, beat around the bush, bilk, circumvent, confound, cop out, ditch, dodge, double, duck, eschew, evade, flee, fly, foil, frustrate, get around, get away from, give the runaround, give the slip, give wide berth to, hem and haw, not touch, outrun, outwit, pass the buck, pass up, puzzle, run around, shirk, shuck, shun, shy, stall, stay shy of, steer clear of, stonewall, stump, thwart |
| Notes: | elude means to escape or evade from while allude means to make a more or less indirect reference to |
Antonyms: |
attract, confront, encounter, entice, face, invite, meet, take on |
| Main Entry: | equivocate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid an issue |
Synonyms: |
beat around the bush, beg the question, blow hot and cold, cavil, cloud the issue, con, cop a plea, cop out, cover up, dodge, double-talk, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, give run around, hedge, hem and haw, jive, lie, mince words, palter, parry, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stonewall, tell white lie, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle, weasel |
Antonyms: |
face, meet, speak on |
| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid, dodge |
Synonyms: |
be noncommittal, beat around the bush, blow hot and cold, cop a plea, cop out, duck, equivocate, evade, flip-flop, fudge, give the run around, hem and haw, jive, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shilly-shally, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stall, stonewall, temporize, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle |
Antonyms: |
confront, face, meet |
| Main Entry: | prevaricate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | deceive; stretch the truth |
Synonyms: |
beat around the bush, beg the question, belie, cavil, con, distort, dodge, equivocate, evade, exaggerate, fabricate, falsify, fib, garble, hedge, invent, jive, lie*, misrepresent, misspeak, palter, phony up, put on*, quibble, shift, shuffle, tergiversate |
Antonyms: |
tell truth |
| Main Entry: | pussyfoot |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | be cautious |
Synonyms: |
avoid, be noncommittal, beat around the bush, creep, dodge, duck the issues, equivocate, evade, glide, hedge, hem and haw, lurk, play it close to the vest, prevaricate, prowl, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, skirt, skulk, slide, slink, slip, sneak, steal, tergiversate, tergiverse, tiptoe, tread warily, watch one's step, weasel |
Antonyms: |
plod |
| Main Entry: | stall |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | delay for own purposes |
Synonyms: |
arrest, avoid the issue, beat around the bush, brake, check, die, drag one's feet, equivocate, fence, filibuster, halt, hamper, hedge, hinder, hold off, interrupt, not move, play for time, postpone, prevaricate, put off, quibble, shut down, slow, slow down, stand, stand off, stand still, stay, still, stonewall, stop, suspend, take one's time, tarry, temporize |
Antonyms: |
advance, allow, further, help |
| Main Entry: | weasel |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid, evade |
Synonyms: |
balk, beat around the bush, circumvent, cop out, dance around an issue, dodge, duck, elude, equivocate, eschew, flee, get around, give the runaround, hedge, hem and haw, lay low, pussyfoot, put off, renege, shirk, shuck, sidestep, slip out, sneak away, tap dance, waffle, welsh, worm one's way out of |
| Main Entry: | welsh |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | renege, swindle |
Synonyms: |
bamboozle, beat around the bush, bilk, cheat, con, cop out, deceive, defraud, dodge, duck, dupe, fleece, flimflam, fool, gull, hoodwink, pull a fast one, rip off, sandbag, scam, shaft, slip out, stiff*, sting*, take for a ride, take to the cleaners, trick, weasel, worm one's way out of |
| Main Entry: | hem and haw |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | hesitate |
Synonyms: |
back and fill, beat around the bush, beg the question, dance around, equivocate, euphemize, fudge and mudge, hum and haw, mince words, shilly-shally, tapdance |