Crossword clues for insinuation
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Insinuation \In*sin"u*a`tion\, n. [L. insinuatio: cf. F. insinuation.]
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The act or process of insinuating; a creeping, winding, or flowing in.
By a soft insinuation mix'd With earth's large mass.
--Crashaw. -
The act of gaining favor, affection, or influence, by gentle or artful means; -- formerly used in a good sense, as of friendly influence or interposition.
--Sir H. Wotton.I hope through the insinuation of Lord Scarborough to keep them here till further orders.
--Lady Cowper. -
The art or power of gaining good will by a prepossessing manner.
He bad a natural insinuation and address which made him acceptable in the best company.
--Clarendon. -
That which is insinuated; a hint; a suggestion or intimation by distant allusion; as, slander may be conveyed by insinuations.
I scorn your coarse insinuation.
--Cowper.Syn: Hint; intimation; suggestion. See Innuendo.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1520s, from Latin insinuationem (nominative insinuatio) "entrance through a narrow way; an ingratiating oneself," noun of action from past participle stem of insinuare (see insinuate).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The act or process of insinuate; a creeping, winding, or flowing in. 2 The act of gaining favor, affection, or influence, by gentle or artful means; — formerly used in a good sense, as of friendly influence or interposition. 3 The art or power of gaining good will by a prepossessing manner. 4 That which is insinuated; a hint; a suggestion, innuendo or intimation by distant allusion
WordNet
n. an indirect (and usually malicious) implication [syn: innuendo]
the act of gaining acceptance or affection for yourself by persuasive and subtle blandishments; "she refused to use insinuation in order to gain favor" [syn: ingratiation]
Usage examples of "insinuation".
Telling her not to imagine Adams doing anything in his private hours in Paris other than attending museums, Lovell, by insinuation, raised the question of what else Adams might be doing.
Catholics, are popular superstitions, envy, calumnies, backbiting, insinuations, and the like, which, being neither punished nor refuted, stir up suspicion of witchcraft.
I had guessed as much, after piecing together the insinuations of Fastus at the banquet this evening.
She did not succumb, but she grew whiter and whiter save when some vile insinuation brought a momentary wave of crimson across her face.
Whenever I tried to make her talk about the captain she would change the subject of conversation, or evade my insinuations with a tact and a shrewdness which astonished and delighted me at the same time, for everything she said bore the impress of grace and wit.
It is one of the Lesbian dreads, I suppose: some wretched man may come sneaking into Paradise, with troubling insinuation.
Leopard City of Nimmr, and as they marched Zeyd found opportunity to forward his suit for the hand of Ateja the daughter of Sheik Ibn Jad, while Tollog sought by insinuation to advance the claims of Fahd in the eyes of the Sheik.
I do not believe he was capable of that, Jesuit though he was--and even amongst such people there is sometimes some honourable feeling--but through the mystical insinuations which he made in the presence of bigoted persons.
Go, sir, your slanderous insinuations have no effect upon me, and as for Alfred Stevens, you are as far below him in nobleness and honest purpose, as you are in every quality of taste and intellect.
Habituated to frequent theaters from their earliest age, they became perfect mistresses of the art of insinuation and the powers of persuasion.
The art of the warrior-traveler is to have the ability to move with the slightest insinuation, the art of acquiescing to every command of infinity.
The seeds of insinuation seasonably sown upon the warm luxuriant soil of youth, could hardly fail of shooting up into such intemperate desires as he wanted to produce, especially when cultured and cherished in her unguarded hours, by that stimulating discourse which familiarity admits, and the looser passions, ingrafted in every breast, are apt to relish and excuse.
He might have annihilated the whole fabric of post-apostolic miracles, if he had left uninjured by sarcastic insinuation those of the New Testament.
The former stormtrooper Voss'on't had done his best to mire Boba Fett's thoughts with his sly insinuations of conspiracy and predictions of violence.
He had jabbed Imberline calculatingly with facts, information, insinuations, names and knowledge, without rattling him for a split second on any score except his own sonorous self-esteem.