| Main Entry: | euphemism |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | nice way of saying something |
Synonyms: |
circumlocution, delicacy, floridness, grandiloquence, inflation, pomposity, pretense, purism |
| Notes: | dysphemism is the substitution of a disagreeable word or phrase for a neutral or positive one (also a word or phrase so substituted); it is the opposite of euphemism |
| 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: | figure of speech |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | turn of expression |
Synonyms: |
adumbration, allegory, alliteration, allusion, analogue, analogy, anaphora, anticlimax, antistrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, apostrophe, asyndeton, bathos, communication that is not meant literally; stylistic device, comparison, conceit, device, echoism, ellipsis, euphemism, euphuism, exaggeration, expression, flourish, flower, hyperbole, image, imagery, irony, litotes, malapropism, manner of speaking, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, ornament, oxymoron, parable, paradox, parallel, personification, proteron, rhetoric, sarcasm, satire, simile, synecdoche, trope, tropology, turn of phrase, understatement, way of speaking |
| Main Entry: | code word |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | secret word |
Synonyms: |
code book, code name, euphemism, password, secret language, secret message, secret writing, watchword |
| Main Entry: | politeness |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | courtesy |
Synonyms: |
affability, amenity, civility, comity, complaisance, convention, courtliness, decorousness, decorum, deference, diplomacy, etiquette, euphemism, pleasantry, polish, politesse, protocol, suaveness, suavity, urbanity |
Antonyms: |
impoliteness, rudeness |
| Main Entry: | tergiversation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | equivocation |
Synonyms: |
ambiguity, amphibology, casuistry, coloring, con, cop out, cover, cover-up, deceit, deception, deceptiveness, delusion, dissimulation, distortion, double entendre, double meaning, double talk, doubtfulness, duplicity, equivocality, equivoque, euphemism, evasion, fallacy, fib, fibbing, hedge, hedging, lie, line*, lying, misrepresentation, prevarication, quibbling routine, run-around, shuffle, shuffling, song and dance, song*, sophistry, speciousness, spuriousness, stall, stonewall, waffle, weasel word |
| Main Entry: | politeness |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
Related
Adjectives: |
Grandisonian, affable, bland, civil, civilized, complacent, complaisant, conciliatory, cordial, courteous, cultivated, fair, fine, gentle, gentlemanlike, good, gracious, honey, ingratiating, mannerly, mild, morate, neighborly, obliging, obsequious, off, polished, polite, refined, soft, urbane, well, well, well brought up
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| Concept: | Tergiversation. |
| Category: | 1. Acts of volition |
Synonyms: |
-nouns
change of mind, change of intention, change of purpose; afterthought., tergiversation, recantation; palinode, palinody; renunciation; abjuration, abjurement; defection (relinquishment); going over; apostasy; retraction, retractation; withdrawal; disavowal (negation); revocation, revokement; reversal; repentance; redintegratio amoris., coquetry; vacillation; backsliding; volte-face., turncoat, turn tippet; rat, apostate, renegade; convert, pervert; proselyte, deserter; backslider; blackleg, crawfish [U.S.], scab, mugwump [U.S.], recidivist., time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter; weathercock (changeable); Janus.
-verbs
change one's mind, change one's intention, change one's purpose, change one's note; abjure, renounce; withdraw from (relinquish); waver, vacillate; wheel round, turn round, veer round; turn a pirouette; go over from one side to another, pass from one side to another, change from one side to another, skip from one side to another; go to the rightabout; box the compass, shift one's ground, go upon another tack; do a 360., apostatize, change sides, go over, rat; recant, retract; revoke; rescind (abrogate); recall; forswear, unsay; come over, come round to an opinion; crawfish [U.S.], crawl [U.S.]., draw in one's borns, eat one's words; eat the leek, swallow the leek; swerve, flinch, back out of, retrace one's steps, think better of it; come back to one's first love, return to one's first love; turn over a new leaf (repent)., trim, shuffle, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, coquet, be on the fence, straddle, bold with the hare but run with the hounds; nager entre deux eaux; wait to see how the cat jumps, wait to see how the wind blows.
-adjectives
changeful; irresolute; ductile, slippery as an eel, trimming, ambidextrous, timeserving; coquetting; revocatory, reactionary.
-phrases
"a change came o'er the spirit of my dream" [Byron].
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