euphemism

Main Entry:
euphemism [yoo-fuh-miz-uhm]
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: nice way of saying something
Synonyms: circumlocution, delicacy, floridness, grandiloquence, inflation, pomposity, pretense, purism
Notes: dysphemism is the substitution of a disagreeable word or phrase for a neutral or positive one (also a word or phrase so substituted); it is the opposite of euphemism
Main Entry: figure of speech
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: turn of expression
Synonyms: adumbration, allegory, alliteration, allusion, analogue, analogy, anaphora, anticlimax, antistrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, apostrophe, asyndeton, bathos, communication that is not meant literally; stylistic device, comparison, conceit, device, echoism, ellipsis, euphemism, euphuism, exaggeration, expression, flourish, flower, hyperbole, image, imagery, irony, litotes, malapropism, manner of speaking, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, ornament, oxymoron, parable, paradox, parallel, personification, proteron, rhetoric, sarcasm, satire, simile, synecdoche, trope, tropology, turn of phrase, understatement, way of speaking
Main Entry: code word
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: secret word
Synonyms: code book, code name, euphemism, password, secret language, secret message, secret writing, watchword
Main Entry: politeness
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: courtesy
Synonyms: affability, amenity, civility, comity, complaisance, convention, courtliness, decorousness, decorum, deference, diplomacy, etiquette, euphemism, pleasantry, polish, politesse, protocol, suaveness, suavity, urbanity
Antonyms: impoliteness, rudeness
Main Entry: tergiversation
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: equivocation
Synonyms: ambiguity, amphibology, casuistry, coloring, con, cop out, cover, cover-up, deceit, deception, deceptiveness, delusion, dissimulation, distortion, double entendre, double meaning, double talk, doubtfulness, duplicity, equivocality, equivoque, euphemism, evasion, fallacy, fib, fibbing, hedge, hedging, lie, line*, lying, misrepresentation, prevarication, quibbling routine, run-around, shuffle, shuffling, song and dance, song*, sophistry, speciousness, spuriousness, stall, stonewall, waffle, weasel word
Related Words
Main Entry: politeness
Part of Speech: noun
Related
Adjectives:
Grandisonian, affable, bland, civil, civilized, complacent, complaisant, conciliatory, cordial, courteous, cultivated, fair, fine, gentle, gentlemanlike, good, gracious, honey, ingratiating, mannerly, mild, morate, neighborly, obliging, obsequious, off, polished, polite, refined, soft, urbane, well, well, well brought up
Concept Thesaurus
Concept: Tergiversation.
Category: 1. Acts of volition
Synonyms:
-nouns
change of mind, change of intention, change of purpose; afterthought., tergiversation, recantation; palinode, palinody; renunciation; abjuration, abjurement; defection (relinquishment); going over; apostasy; retraction, retractation; withdrawal; disavowal (negation); revocation, revokement; reversal; repentance; redintegratio amoris., coquetry; vacillation; backsliding; volte-face., turncoat, turn tippet; rat, apostate, renegade; convert, pervert; proselyte, deserter; backslider; blackleg, crawfish [U.S.], scab, mugwump [U.S.], recidivist., time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter; weathercock (changeable); Janus.
-verbs
change one's mind, change one's intention, change one's purpose, change one's note; abjure, renounce; withdraw from (relinquish); waver, vacillate; wheel round, turn round, veer round; turn a pirouette; go over from one side to another, pass from one side to another, change from one side to another, skip from one side to another; go to the rightabout; box the compass, shift one's ground, go upon another tack; do a 360., apostatize, change sides, go over, rat; recant, retract; revoke; rescind (abrogate); recall; forswear, unsay; come over, come round to an opinion; crawfish [U.S.], crawl [U.S.]., draw in one's borns, eat one's words; eat the leek, swallow the leek; swerve, flinch, back out of, retrace one's steps, think better of it; come back to one's first love, return to one's first love; turn over a new leaf (repent)., trim, shuffle, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, coquet, be on the fence, straddle, bold with the hare but run with the hounds; nager entre deux eaux; wait to see how the cat jumps, wait to see how the wind blows.
-adjectives
changeful; irresolute; ductile, slippery as an eel, trimming, ambidextrous, timeserving; coquetting; revocatory, reactionary.
-phrases
"a change came o'er the spirit of my dream" [Byron].
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