Crossword clues for equivocation
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Equivocation \E*quiv`o*ca"tion\, n. The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, with a purpose to mislead.
There being no room for equivocations, there is no need
of distinctions.
--Locke.
Syn: Prevarication; ambiguity; shuffling; evasion; guibbling. See Equivocal, a., and Prevaricate, v. i.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "fallacy of using a word in different senses at different stages of the reasoning" (a loan-translation of Greek homonymia, literally "having the same name"), from Old French equivocation, from Late Latin aequivocationem (nominative aequivocatio), noun of action from aequivocus "of identical sound, of equal voice, of equal significance, ambiguous, of like sound," past participle of aequivocare, from aequus "equal" (see equal (adj.)) + vocare "to call" (see voice (n.)).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context logic English) A logical fallacy resulting from the use of multiple meanings of a single expression. 2 The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, possibly intentionally and with the aim of misleading.
WordNet
n. a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth [syn: evasion]
intentionally vague or ambiguous [syn: prevarication, evasiveness]
falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language [syn: tergiversation]
Wikipedia
Equivocation ("to call by the same name") is an informal logical fallacy. It is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning or sense (by glossing over which meaning is intended at a particular time). It generally occurs with polysemic words (words with multiple meanings).
Albeit in common parlance it is used in a variety of contexts, when discussed as a fallacy, equivocation only occurs when the arguer makes a word or phrase employed in two (or more) different senses in an argument appear to have the same meaning throughout.
It is therefore distinct from (semantic) ambiguity, which means that the context doesn't make the meaning of the word or phrase clear, and amphiboly (or syntactical ambiguity), which refers to ambiguous sentence structure due to punctuation or syntax.
A common case of equivocation is the fallacious use in a syllogism (a logical chain of reasoning) of a term several times, but giving the term a different meaning each time.
Equivocation is a logical fallacy whereby an argument is made with a term which changes semantics in the course of the argument.
Equivocation may also refer to:
- Equivocation (information theory), measures the amount of information that is contained in a random variable or other unknown quantity, given the knowledge over another random variable
- Amphibology, equivocation in literature
- Equivocation (magic), a technique in magic or mentalism, in which a performer gives the appearance of an apparent choice, with no such choice existing.
- Equivocation (play), a play by Bill Cain
- Doctrine of mental reservation
Equivocation is a verbal technique by which a magician appears to have a particular outcome, when in actuality the outcome is one of several alternatives. "In essence equivoque is the process of psychological forcing combined with double entendre."
Equivocation, written by Bill Cain, is a play about telling the truth in difficult times. It proposes the question: what if the government commissioned William Shakespeare (known as Shagspeare in the play) to write the definitive history of a national crisis, the Gunpowder Plot, in one of his plays.
Usage examples of "equivocation".
Dismas, because of his drug habit, might be involved with the heretics who had recently tried to set fire to the floating docks, but it must be the merest of hints hedged round with equivocation, for the Aedile was certain that if Dr.
Theydammitand Diana were the three designees from the English department, and while Phil gave Rob highest marks, Gloria was busy with equivocations.
Diana were the three designees from the English department, and while Phil gave Rob highest marks, Gloria was busy with equivocations.
It is better to remain silent than to make strangers laugh by odd expressions and absurd equivocations.
Voltaire, in spite of his genius, would not perhaps have reached posterity under his name of Arouet, especially amongst the French, who always give way so easily to their keen sense of ridicule and equivocation.
The equivocation was innocent because it was not premeditated, for if I had thought it over I should never have said such a thing.
The people of that period considered it indispensable to translate the whole world into a forest of Symbols, Hints, Equestrian Games, Masquerades, Paintings, Courtly Arms, Trophies, Blazons, Escutcheons, Ironic Figures, Sculpted Obverses of Coins, Fables, Allegories, Apologias, Epigrams, Riddles, Equivocations, Proverbs, Watchwords, Laconic Epistles, Epitaphs, Parerga, Lapidary Engravings, Shields, Glyphs, Clipei, and if I may, I will stop here—but they did not stop.
It would integrate the encyclical's clashing elements—the contradictions, the equivocations, the omissions, the unanswered questions—into a consistent pattern.
Today, that line is lost under layer upon layer of evasions, equivocations and plain falsehood.
Evasions, equivocations and guilty apologies will not work any longer.
Layer by layer, they would peel off his equivocations until the nothing that was the essential Blott was revealed quite naked and then they would shoot what was left for desertion.
Even though her comments were frequently obscure, sometimes frightening, he would rather hear honest words that he could not understand because of his own stupidity than equivocations deliberately constructed to hide the truth.
There was the Bay of Fraud, the Bay of Incontinence, the Bay of Sorrow, the Bay of Equivocations, and Bays of Forgetfulness, Hunger, Disease, Combat, and Injustice.
He'd been content to be fobbed off with hints and equivocation, and he might have continued to be content, if he hadn't been irritated by the zarzi and the lateness of the L'Himby train, bored and ready for an argument.