'Tergiversate' definitions:
Definition of 'tergiversate'
From: WordNet
verb
Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information [syn: beat around the bush, equivocate, tergiversate, prevaricate, palter]
verb
Abandon one's beliefs or allegiances [syn: apostatize, apostatise, tergiversate]
Definition of 'Tergiversate'
From: GCIDE
- Tergiversate \Ter"gi*ver*sate\, v. i. [L. tergiversatus, p. p. of tergiversari to turn one's back, to shift; tergum back + versare, freq. of vertere to turn. See Verse.] To shift; to practice evasion; to use subterfuges; to shuffle. [R.] --Bailey. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'tergiversate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- alternate,
- apostatize,
- around the bush,
- back and fill,
- beat about,
- beg the question,
- bicker,
- boggle,
- cavil,
- change,
- choplogic,
- come round,
- desert,
- dither,
- do a flip-flop,
- do an about-face,
- dodge,
- duck,
- equivocate,
- evade,
- evade the issue,
- fence,
- fluctuate,
- have second thoughts,
- hedge,
- hem and haw,
- hum and haw,
- mince the truth,
- mince words,
- mystify,
- nitpick,
- obscure,
- oscillate,
- palter,
- parry,
- pendulate,
- pick nits,
- prevaricate,
- pussyfoot,
- quibble,
- rat,
- renounce,
- repudiate,
- shift,
- shilly-shally,
- shuffle,
- shy,
- sidestep,
- split hairs,
- teeter,
- totter,
- turn,
- vacillate,
- vary,
- waffle,
- waver,
- weasel,
- wheel,
- wobble