double talk

Deliberately misleading speech

Double talk is deliberately confusing or meaningless speech designed to deceive or evade.

Politicians and corporate spokespeople engage in double talk when they want to sound responsive while saying nothing substantive: His answer was pure double talk.

The term also refers to a comedy technique mixing real words with gibberish to create the illusion of coherent speech.

deception

doublespeak

Deliberately misleading language

equivocationAmbiguous language avoiding commitment
ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
obfuscationDeliberate concealment through confusion

misleading · prevarication · insincerity · deceit · manipulation · sophistry · chicanery · subterfuge · guile · artifice

evasion

circumlocution

Indirect, wordy expression

vaguenessAbsence of precision
hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
indirectnessLack of straightforwardness

dodging · sidestepping · elusiveness · fudging · stalling · noncommittal · beating around the bush · deflection · runaround · stonewalling

double talk

doublespeak

circumlocution

double talk

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