"non-denial denial" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "non-denial denials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "non-denial denial (plural non-denial denials)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997 July 1, Taran Provost, “Gates: I Wasn't Even on the Block”, in Time",
          "text": "In a classic non-denial denial, Microsoft said that such a takeover might endanger its $200 million MSNBC network partnership.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 January 13, Julia Hartley-Brewer, “Diary”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "\"If you print that, I'll sue you.\" A non-denial denial if ever there was one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 October 1, David E. Sanger, “The Basics; Did I Say That? No, Not Really, Maybe, Sort Of”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "In Washington, there is no higher art form than the non-denial denial, in which politicians try to rebut a storyline without quite denying the specifics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 19, Vit Wagner, “Anonymous Obama novel stirs Washington”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "[H]e has issued a firm non-denial denial. “I didn’t write it,” he told The New York Times. “But if I had written it, I would be saying I didn’t write it.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A statement which appears to deny that something is true, but which, when examined carefully, can be seen to have used diversion, bluster, or ambiguity to avoid making a clear, direct denial."
      ],
      "id": "en-non-denial_denial-en-noun-wWAzpdr7",
      "links": [
        [
          "statement",
          "statement"
        ],
        [
          "deny",
          "deny"
        ],
        [
          "diversion",
          "diversion"
        ],
        [
          "bluster",
          "bluster"
        ],
        [
          "ambiguity",
          "ambiguity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A statement which appears to deny that something is true, but which, when examined carefully, can be seen to have used diversion, bluster, or ambiguity to avoid making a clear, direct denial."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "equivocation"
        },
        {
          "word": "nondenial"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-non-denial denial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "non-denial denial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "non-denial denials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "non-denial denial (plural non-denial denials)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "equivocation"
    },
    {
      "word": "nondenial"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997 July 1, Taran Provost, “Gates: I Wasn't Even on the Block”, in Time",
          "text": "In a classic non-denial denial, Microsoft said that such a takeover might endanger its $200 million MSNBC network partnership.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 January 13, Julia Hartley-Brewer, “Diary”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "\"If you print that, I'll sue you.\" A non-denial denial if ever there was one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 October 1, David E. Sanger, “The Basics; Did I Say That? No, Not Really, Maybe, Sort Of”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "In Washington, there is no higher art form than the non-denial denial, in which politicians try to rebut a storyline without quite denying the specifics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 19, Vit Wagner, “Anonymous Obama novel stirs Washington”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 2013-06-11",
          "text": "[H]e has issued a firm non-denial denial. “I didn’t write it,” he told The New York Times. “But if I had written it, I would be saying I didn’t write it.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A statement which appears to deny that something is true, but which, when examined carefully, can be seen to have used diversion, bluster, or ambiguity to avoid making a clear, direct denial."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "statement",
          "statement"
        ],
        [
          "deny",
          "deny"
        ],
        [
          "diversion",
          "diversion"
        ],
        [
          "bluster",
          "bluster"
        ],
        [
          "ambiguity",
          "ambiguity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A statement which appears to deny that something is true, but which, when examined carefully, can be seen to have used diversion, bluster, or ambiguity to avoid making a clear, direct denial."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-non-denial denial.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-non-denial_denial.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "non-denial denial"
}