tergiversation

3 definitions found

tergiversation - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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]

tergiversation - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

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

tergiversation - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  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