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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceitful, tricky |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, cagey, casuistic, casuistical, cunning, deceptive, devious, dissembling, elusive, elusory, equivocating, false, fugitive, greasy, indirect, intangible, lying, misleading, oblique, prevaricating, shifty, shuffling, slippery, sly, sophistical, stonewalling, unclear, vague |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge |
| Antonyms: | direct, forthright, honest, ready, straight, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | cryptic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | secret; obscure in meaning |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, Delphic, abstruse, ambiguous, apocryphal, arcane, cabalistic, dark, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive, hidden, incomprehensible, inexplicable, murky, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secretive, strange, tenebrous, unclear, unfathomable, uninformative, vague, veiled |
| Notes: | cryptic coloration helps conceal an animal; phaneric coloration makes an animal stand out |
| Antonyms: | clear, obvious, plain, seen, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | devious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest, crafty |
| Synonyms: | artful, calculating, crooked, deceitful, double-dealing, duplicitous, errant, erring, evasive, faking one out, fishy, foxy*, fraudulent, guileful, indirect, insidious, insincere, not straightforward, oblique, obliquitous, playing games, playing politics, put on, roundabout, scheming, shady, shifty, shrewd, sly, sneaking, sneaky, surreptitious, treacherous, tricky, underhanded, wily |
| Antonyms: | artless, frank, honest, open, straightforward, trustworthy, truthful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | equivocal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | doubtful, uncertain |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibological, borderline, clear as mud, clouded, disreputable, dubious, evasive, fishy, fuzzy*, hazy*, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, misleading, muddled, muzzy, oblique, obscure, open, problematic, puzzling, questionable, suspect, suspicious, tenebrous, unclear, undecided, unexplicit, unintelligible, vague, with mixed feelings |
| Notes: | ambiguous is vague by accident or intent; equivocal is vague by intent |
| Antonyms: | certain, clear, definite, determined, obvious, plain, sure, unequivocal, unquestionable |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | furtive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | sneaky, secretive |
| Synonyms: | artful, calculating, cautious, circumspect, clandestine, cloaked, conspiratorial, covert, crafty*, creepy*, cunning, disguised, elusive, evasive, foxy, guileful, hidden, hush-hush, insidious, masked, scheming, shifty, skulking, slinking, sly, stealthy, sub-rosa, surreptitious, tricky*, under wraps, under-the-table, undercover, underhand, underhanded, wily |
| Antonyms: | aboveboard, forthright, honest, open, truthful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | indefinite |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | ambiguous, vague |
| Synonyms: | broad, confused, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, evasive, general, ill-defined, imprecise, indeterminable, indeterminate, indistinct, inexact, inexhaustible, infinite, innumerable, intangible, loose, obscure, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undependable, undetermined, unfixed, unknown, unlimited, unsettled, unspecific, unsure, wide |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, distinct, sure |
| Main Entry: | insincere |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dishonest, pretended |
| Synonyms: | ambidextrous, backhanded, deceitful, deceptive, devious, disingenuous, dissembling, dissimulating, double, double-dealing, duplicitous, evasive, faithless, fake, false, hollow, hypocritical, lying, mendacious, perfidious, phony, pretentious, put-on, shifty, slick, sly, snide, two-faced, unfaithful, untrue, untruthful |
| Antonyms: | forthright, frank, honest, open, sincere |
| Main Entry: | intangible |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | indefinite, obscured |
| Synonyms: | abstract, abstruse, airy, dim, eluding, elusive, ethereal, evading, evanescent, evasive, hypothetical, impalpable, imperceptible, imponderable, inappreciable, incorporeal, indeterminate, insensible, invisible, rare, shadowy, slender, slight, unapparent, uncertain, unobservable, unreal, unsubstantial, unsure, vague |
| Antonyms: | definite, obvious, palpable, perceptible, tangible |
| Main Entry: | misleading |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive, confusing |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, beguiling, bewildering, casuistical, catchy, confounding, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, demagogic, disingenuous, distracting, evasive, fallacious, false, inaccurate, perplexing, puzzling, sophistical, specious, spurious, tricky, wrong |
| Antonyms: | honest, truthful |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
