See weasel word in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's \"wriggling, evasive character\".",
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{
"text": "1900. Century Magazine, quoted in Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1987)).\nWeasel words are words that suck all of the life out of the words next to them just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell."
},
{
"ref": "1916 May 31, Theodore Roosevelt, speech delivered in St. Louis, MO",
"text": "Now, you can have universal training or you can have voluntary training, but when you use the word 'voluntary' to qualify the word 'universal', you are using a weasel word; it has sucked all the meaning out of 'universal'. The two words flatly contradict one another."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies."
],
"id": "en-weasel_word-en-noun-ZN6nX-2b",
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"raw_glosses": [
"(derogatory, dated) A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies."
],
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “IRP snuffs out 'levelling up'”, in RAIL, number 945, page 3:",
"text": "In scrapping HS2's eastern leg and descoping Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), Prime Minister Boris Johnson's frequent and unambiguous promises to build both have been exposed for the weasel words they were.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading."
],
"id": "en-weasel_word-en-noun-beVe7IA8",
"links": [
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],
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"misleading",
"misleading"
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"raw_glosses": [
"(derogatory) A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "hedge"
}
],
"tags": [
"derogatory"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "狡辯之辭"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǎobiànzhīcí",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "狡辩之辞"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "vaagtaal"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "wezelwoord"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "schwammiger Begriff"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"note": "homályos/ködösítő/kétértelmű szó/kifejezés/megfogalmazás",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "mana bozucu kelime"
}
]
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's \"wriggling, evasive character\".",
"forms": [
{
"form": "weasel words",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "weasel wording",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
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{
"form": "weasel worded",
"tags": [
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{
"form": "weasel worded",
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"_dis": "18 19 63",
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{
"_dis": "19 17 65",
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"_dis": "19 15 66",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1979, Peter Straub, Ghost Story:",
"text": "Now Sears looked down at the person fate had put closer to him than anyone else in the world, and knew that Ricky was thinking that he had weasel-worded his way out of the last question.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To use weasel words."
],
"id": "en-weasel_word-en-verb-RDmIAgRq",
"related": [
{
"word": "disclaimer"
}
]
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
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"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations",
"en:Ambiguity"
],
"etymology_text": "Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's \"wriggling, evasive character\".",
"forms": [
{
"form": "weasel words",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "weasel word (plural weasel words)",
"name": "en-noun"
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English dated terms",
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],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1900. Century Magazine, quoted in Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1987)).\nWeasel words are words that suck all of the life out of the words next to them just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell."
},
{
"ref": "1916 May 31, Theodore Roosevelt, speech delivered in St. Louis, MO",
"text": "Now, you can have universal training or you can have voluntary training, but when you use the word 'voluntary' to qualify the word 'universal', you are using a weasel word; it has sucked all the meaning out of 'universal'. The two words flatly contradict one another."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies."
],
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"negate",
"negate"
],
[
"remove",
"remove"
],
[
"qualifies",
"qualify"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(derogatory, dated) A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies."
],
"tags": [
"dated",
"derogatory"
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},
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"English derogatory terms",
"English terms with quotations"
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “IRP snuffs out 'levelling up'”, in RAIL, number 945, page 3:",
"text": "In scrapping HS2's eastern leg and descoping Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), Prime Minister Boris Johnson's frequent and unambiguous promises to build both have been exposed for the weasel words they were.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading."
],
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"hedge",
"hedge"
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[
"vague",
"vague"
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[
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],
[
"misleading",
"misleading"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(derogatory) A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "hedge"
}
],
"tags": [
"derogatory"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "狡辯之辭"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǎobiànzhīcí",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "狡辩之辞"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "vaagtaal"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "wezelwoord"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "schwammiger Begriff"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"note": "homályos/ködösítő/kétértelmű szó/kifejezés/megfogalmazás",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "word used to qualify or hedge a statement",
"word": "mana bozucu kelime"
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
{
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
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"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations",
"en:Ambiguity"
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"etymology_text": "Initially a reference to weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's \"wriggling, evasive character\".",
"forms": [
{
"form": "weasel words",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "weasel wording",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "weasel worded",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "weasel worded",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "weasel word (third-person singular simple present weasel words, present participle weasel wording, simple past and past participle weasel worded)",
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],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "disclaimer"
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"senses": [
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"categories": [
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1979, Peter Straub, Ghost Story:",
"text": "Now Sears looked down at the person fate had put closer to him than anyone else in the world, and knew that Ricky was thinking that he had weasel-worded his way out of the last question.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To use weasel words."
]
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
Download raw JSONL data for weasel word meaning in English (5.3kB)
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"msg": "Translation too long compared to word, so it is skipped",
"path": [
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"section": "English",
"subsection": "noun",
"title": "weasel word",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.