beat around the bush

Main Entry:
elude [ih-lood]
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: avoid; escape
Synonyms: baffle, be beyond someone, beat around the bush, bilk, circumvent, confound, cop out, ditch, dodge, double, duck, eschew, evade, flee, fly, foil, frustrate, get around, get away from, give the runaround, give the slip, give wide berth to, hem and haw, not touch, outrun, outwit, pass the buck, pass up, puzzle, run around, shirk, shuck, shun, shy, stall, stay shy of, steer clear of, stonewall, stump, thwart
Notes: elude means to escape or evade from while allude means to make a more or less indirect reference to
Antonyms: attract, confront, encounter, entice, face, invite, meet, take on
Main Entry: hedge
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: avoid, dodge
Synonyms: be noncommittal, beat around the bush, blow hot and cold, cop a plea, cop out, duck, equivocate, evade, flip-flop, fudge, give the run around, hem and haw, jive, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shilly-shally, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stall, stonewall, temporize, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle
Antonyms: confront, face, meet
Main Entry: prevaricate
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: deceive; stretch the truth
Synonyms: beat around the bush, beg the question, belie, cavil, con, distort, dodge, equivocate, evade, exaggerate, fabricate, falsify, fib, garble, hedge, invent, jive, lie*, misrepresent, misspeak, palter, phony up, put on*, quibble, shift, shuffle, tergiversate
Antonyms: tell truth
Main Entry: pussyfoot
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: be cautious
Synonyms: avoid, be noncommittal, beat around the bush, creep, dodge, duck the issues, equivocate, evade, glide, hedge, hem and haw, lurk, play it close to the vest, prevaricate, prowl, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, skirt, skulk, slide, slink, slip, sneak, steal, tergiversate, tergiverse, tiptoe, tread warily, watch one's step, weasel
Antonyms: plod
Main Entry: stall
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: delay for own purposes
Synonyms: arrest, avoid the issue, beat around the bush, brake, check, die, drag one's feet, equivocate, fence, filibuster, halt, hamper, hedge, hinder, hold off, interrupt, not move, play for time, postpone, prevaricate, put off, quibble, shut down, slow, slow down, stand, stand off, stand still, stay, still, stonewall, stop, suspend, take one's time, tarry, temporize
Antonyms: advance, allow, further, help
Main Entry: weasel
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: avoid, evade
Synonyms: balk, beat around the bush, circumvent, cop out, dance around an issue, dodge, duck, elude, equivocate, eschew, flee, get around, give the runaround, hedge, hem and haw, lay low, pussyfoot, put off, renege, shirk, shuck, sidestep, slip out, sneak away, tap dance, waffle, welsh, worm one's way out of
Main Entry: welsh
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: renege, swindle
Synonyms: bamboozle, beat around the bush, bilk, cheat, con, cop out, deceive, defraud, dodge, duck, dupe, fleece, flimflam, fool, gull, hoodwink, pull a fast one, rip off, sandbag, scam, shaft, slip out, stiff*, sting*, take for a ride, take to the cleaners, trick, weasel, worm one's way out of
Main Entry: hem and haw
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: hesitate
Synonyms: back and fill, beat around the bush, beg the question, dance around, equivocate, euphemize, fudge and mudge, hum and haw, mince words, shilly-shally, tapdance
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