weasel words
Slippery qualifying phrases
Weasel words are vague qualifiers that let someone make a claim while leaving room to deny or retreat from it.
Words like *some*, *many*, *reportedly*, *up to*, and *it is said* allow hedging: Some experts believe the economy will recover commits to nothing.
The term suggests the sneaky reputation of weasels.
Politicians and advertisers favor weasel words to imply more than they're actually saying.
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
- spin doctorFavorable interpretation specialist
- evasiveAvoiding direct response
- equivocationAmbiguous language avoiding commitment
- hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
dodge · wriggle out · seemingly · obfuscation · mealy-mouthed · vagueness · misleading · smokescreen · ambiguous · wiggle room · cover your bases · euphemism · loaded language · deflection · mistakes were made · straw man · shift · insinuation
- evasionsno comment, dodge, deflection, hedging, equivocation
- insincerityinsincerity, phoniness, fakeness, falseness, pretense
- word phrasesbuzzword, catchword, byword, watchword, codeword
- campaign jargonstump speech, talking points, sound bites, soundbite, soundbites
- evasive languageequivocation, hedging, vagueness, circumlocution, doublespeak
- manipulation tacticsgaslighting, guilt trip, guilt-tripping, guilt tripping, emotional blackmail
weasel wordsstraight talk
Honest, direct communication
plain English · precise language · specificity · clarity · exactness
weasel wordscandor
Unguarded truthfulness
frankness · forthrightness · transparency · honesty · truthfulness
word, words, weasel, weasels, weaseled, weaseling, weaselly, weasely, weasel-like