TERGIVERSATION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tergiversation

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noun

Tergiversation n.

The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge; evasion. "Writing is to be preferred before verbal conferences, as being freer from passions and tergiversations."

Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change. "The colonel, after all his tergiversations, lost his life in the king's service."

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Etymology of 'Tergiversation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tergiversation" Quotes from Famous Books

... that he had promised, and that he would do nothing more. His conduct on this trying occasion has been severely condemned for its duplicity. To me he appears more deserving of pity than censure. His was not the tergiversation of one who seeks to effect his object by fraud and deception: it was rather the hesitation of a mind oscillating between the decision of his own judgment and the opinions and apprehensions of others. His conviction seems to have remained ...

— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI. • Various

... coloured and bit her lip. She was conscious of gross tergiversation, of having ratted shamefully; for that merry party in the afternoon, as they stood in the camp of Rockcliffe overlooking Commonstone, had, one and all, vowed to foot it merrily in the town-hall on Easter Monday, and agreed that for real lovers of dancing a country ball beat a London ...

— Belles and Ringers • Hawley Smart

... it was increasingly evident that Douglas found himself hard pushed. Lincoln would not allow himself to be swerved from the main issue by any tergiversation or personal attacks. He insisted from day to day in bringing Douglas back to this issue: "What do you, Douglas, propose to do about slavery in the territories? Is it your final judgment that there is to be no further reservation of free territory in this country? ...

— Abraham Lincoln • George Haven Putnam

Words linked to "Tergiversation" : apostasy, tergiversate, equivocation, forsaking