Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge; evasion.
- noun The act of changing one's opinions or of turning from them; the act of turning against a cause formerly advocated; fickleness or instability of conduct.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge; evasion.
- noun Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of abandoning something or someone, of changing sides; desertion; betrayal.
- noun The act of evading any clear course of action or speech, of being deliberately ambiguous;
equivocation ;fickleness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language
- noun the act of abandoning a party for cause
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Van Schalkwyk and his conduct in South African public life over the past decade was completely defined by an obscure old English word dating from the sixteenth century - "tergiversation".
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ANC, as opposed to the NNP's "tergiversation", DA leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
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"tergiversation" and it passed to the girl from the Red Mill, who spelled it without hesitation, and correctly, Helen applauded softly, while Tom audibly exclaimed: "Good for Ruthie!"
Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret Alice B. Emerson
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'tergiversation' is a long and yet far from exhaustive list.
Samuel Rutherford and some of his correspondents Alexander Whyte 1878
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He went for what he believed to be the right in the straightest possible manner, and had a huge scorn of other men who were given to tergiversation or trickery.
Archive 2009-03-01 2009
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A Week End Reading package dispatched two years later included A fascinating but somewhat implausible account of Chancellor Adenauers tergiversation on the test ban treaty; the latest Gallup Poll on the Conservatives in Britain; a private cable from Bowles; Joseph Alsops views on Diem and Nhu; and an interesting memorandum on our relative economic leverage with South Africa.
In the Shadow of the Oval Office Ivo H. Daalder 2009
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The honorable member then adverted to that tergiversation of principle which the career of political individuals so often presented.
Historical Documentation Concerning the Radical Piracy of _Wat Tyler_ 2007
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A Week End Reading package dispatched two years later included A fascinating but somewhat implausible account of Chancellor Adenauers tergiversation on the test ban treaty; the latest Gallup Poll on the Conservatives in Britain; a private cable from Bowles; Joseph Alsops views on Diem and Nhu; and an interesting memorandum on our relative economic leverage with South Africa.
In the Shadow of the Oval Office Ivo H. Daalder 2009
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A Week End Reading package dispatched two years later included A fascinating but somewhat implausible account of Chancellor Adenauers tergiversation on the test ban treaty; the latest Gallup Poll on the Conservatives in Britain; a private cable from Bowles; Joseph Alsops views on Diem and Nhu; and an interesting memorandum on our relative economic leverage with South Africa.
In the Shadow of the Oval Office Ivo H. Daalder 2009
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A Week End Reading package dispatched two years later included A fascinating but somewhat implausible account of Chancellor Adenauers tergiversation on the test ban treaty; the latest Gallup Poll on the Conservatives in Britain; a private cable from Bowles; Joseph Alsops views on Diem and Nhu; and an interesting memorandum on our relative economic leverage with South Africa.
In the Shadow of the Oval Office Ivo H. Daalder 2009
milosrdenstvi commented on the word tergiversation
"Crows hold courts of justice where sentence is passed upon Crows who do not know the mayor. After much cawing by the judge and a jury of the usual sort the defendant is torn to pieces to teach him a lesson. All and sundry then repair to a nearby tree to commit simony, petty larceny, tergiversation, and misfeasance, evict a few widows and orphans, double-cross one another, and make more laws. After a good laugh they hold evening prayers and go to roost in the wrong nests."
Will Cuppy, "How To Tell Your Friends From The Apes"
January 12, 2009
cloudface commented on the word tergiversation
I much prefer:
tergiversation \tuhr-jiv-uhr-SAY-shuhn\, noun:
1. The act of practicing evasion or of being deliberately ambiguous.
2. The act of abandoning a party or cause.
or
tergiversation
n. act or state of being apostate or renegade; equivocation. tergiversator, n. tergiversatory, a.
"Like most writers, I have always championed thrift . . . . Not long ago, however, I experienced an extraordinary tergiversation. Now I'm an ally of excess, a proponent of redundancy."
Michael Norman, "When an Author's Words Are Sold by the Pound", New York Times, September 15, 1991
There are at least 4 different interpretations of the word as far as a quick bit of "Google sleuthing" could just provide.
I intenet on implementing the word for a sort of "concept album" I started 5 years ago ie figuring I'd change my way of making music by now/attitude etc...but enough about me..
July 1, 2009
cloudface commented on the word tergiversation
"intenet" should be "intend" on the last post...it's 3am where I am right now...
July 1, 2009