doubletalk
Deliberately misleading speech
Doubletalk is deliberately evasive or ambiguous language designed to confuse or mislead.
Politicians engage in doubletalk when they want to seem responsive without committing to anything: His answer was pure doubletalk—ten minutes of talking without saying a thing.
The word can also mean rapid nonsense speech mixing real words with gibberish, performed for comic effect.
Pretentious unintelligible language
- bureaucrateseWordy governmental language
- legaleseAttorneys' technical jargon
- technobabbleFake scientific-sounding nonsense
- buzzwordsTrendy technical jargon
corporatespeak · officialese · newspeak · bafflegab · mumbo-jumbo · psychobabble · gibberish · nonsense
Cause false belief
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
misrepresentation · subterfuge · trickery · con · fraud · hoax · lie · pretense
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
- deflectTurn from course
- dodgeAvoid by quick movement
- sidestepEvade by moving aside
- obfuscateMake unclear intentionally
hedge · fudge · prevaricate · weasel · circumlocution · runaround · noncommittal · vague
Uncertain in meaning
- vagueUnclear, ill-defined
- unclearNot easily understood
- nebulousUnclear and formless
- crypticObscure in meaning
opaque · murky · weasel words · mealy-mouthed · noncommittal · slippery · ambivalent · elliptical
Deceptive reasoning
- demagogueryManipulative political rhetoric
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- persuasionConvincing through reasoning
polemic · oratory · grandstanding · bluster · bombast · posturing · sloganeering · fearmongering
gobbledygook
Pretentious unintelligible language
- bureaucrateseWordy governmental language
- legaleseAttorneys' technical jargon
- technobabbleFake scientific-sounding nonsense
buzzwords · corporatespeak · officialese · newspeak · bafflegab · mumbo-jumbo · psychobabble · gibberish · nonsense · unintelligible
mislead
Cause false belief
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
manipulation · misrepresentation · subterfuge · trickery · con · fraud · hoax · lie · pretense · sham
equivocation
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
obfuscate · hedge · fudge · prevaricate · weasel · circumlocution · runaround · noncommittal · vague · stonewall
equivocal
Uncertain in meaning
cryptic · opaque · murky · weasel words · mealy-mouthed · noncommittal · slippery · ambivalent · elliptical · imprecise
sophistry
Deceptive reasoning
- demagogueryManipulative political rhetoric
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- spinRapid rotation around axis
persuasion · polemic · oratory · grandstanding · bluster · bombast · posturing · sloganeering · fearmongering · dog whistle
- gibberishgibberish, nonsense, babble, babbling, drivel
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
- fallaciesstraw man, red herring, circular reasoning, ad hominem, fallacy
- Word Trickssynonym, euphemism, paraphrase, circumlocution, metaphor
doubletalkstraight talk
Honest, direct communication
plain language · clarity · directness · plain English · lucidity
doubletalkhonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
sincerity · truthfulness · frankness · candor · forthrightness
talk, double, duplicate, doubled, doubling, duplicity, doubles, duplicated, redouble