tergiversation

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tergiversation

/tɝd͡ʒɪvɚˈseɪʃən/ US
/tɜːd͡ʒɪvəˈseɪʃən/ UK

Rhymes with -eɪʃən

Where it comes from

From Latin tergiversātiō, from tergiversārī (“to turn one's back, to evade, to avoid”) + -tiō (“-tion: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to tergiversate + -ion.

noun tergiversations

countable, uncountable The act of abandoning something or someone, of changing sides; desertion; betrayal. They make their outward impudence their mask, as foxes, the better we may not see where they truly tend, nor their true black tergiversation beneath.
Similar: perfidy, prodition, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss, perfidiousness, Punic faith, stab in the back, swike, tergiversation
countable, uncountable The act of evading any clear course of action or speech, of being deliberately ambiguous; equivocation; fickleness. Anyone who desires an hour's amusement may be advised to look up the tergiversations of eminent craniologists in their attempts to prove from brain measurements that women are stupider than men.

Translations

Every language

noun act of evading clear course

Español	tergiversación
Português	tergiversação
Română	tergiversare

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MLA

"tergiversation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tergiversation. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tergiversation. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tergiversation

Chicago

"tergiversation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tergiversation.

BibTeX

@misc{tergiversation_2026,
  title = {tergiversation},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tergiversation},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}