See weasel word in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for weasel word meaning in English (5.4kB)
{
"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"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"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."
],
"id": "en-weasel_word-en-noun-ZN6nX-2b",
"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"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "9 73 18",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Ambiguity",
"orig": "en:Ambiguity",
"parents": [
"Communication",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"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": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"hedge",
"hedge"
],
[
"vague",
"vague"
],
[
"equivocal",
"equivocal"
],
[
"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": [
{
"_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"
]
},
{
"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)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "12 29 58",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 33 54",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 37 51",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To use weasel words."
],
"id": "en-weasel_word-en-verb-RDmIAgRq",
"related": [
{
"word": "disclaimer"
}
]
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English verbs",
"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"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English dated terms",
"English derogatory terms"
],
"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"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English derogatory terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal, or misleading."
],
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"hedge",
"hedge"
],
[
"vague",
"vague"
],
[
"equivocal",
"equivocal"
],
[
"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"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English verbs",
"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": [
"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)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "disclaimer"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To use weasel words."
]
}
],
"word": "weasel word"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). 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.