✅ Equivocate means to use unclear language, generally to mislead or avoid commitment (She equivocated rather than giving me an answer).

✅ Tergiversate means to change your mind a lot and go back and forth on a cause or subject, particularly in a way that ends up being unclear or means you avoid commitment (He was known for tergiversating in order to cause delays).

✅ Equivocate and tergiversate both mean to use vague language, often in a way that means avoiding a decision.

✅ However, tergiversate specifically suggests changing your opinion repeatedly, whereas equivocate suggests misleading people or hedging when you speak (She tended to tergiversate when she was nervous about a decision).

✅ A cat is a small domesticated animal but can also be slang for a person, particularly a man, a person who likes jazz music, or a woman who gossips in a spiteful way (The cat drank milk from a saucer; I’ll see you cats later; She’s a nasty old cat).

✅ Grimalkin can refer to a cat—that is, the animal—especially an old and bad-tempered one. It can also refer to a similarly old and bad-tempered woman (The grimalkin by the fire hissed at me, and her owner, the grimalkin that had let me in, seemed likely to hiss back).

✅ Cat and grimalkin are both slang words that are pretty outdated, and both suggest an unpleasant woman. However, cat can also be used to refer to a man, similar to the word guy.

✅ Plot refers to the plan of events, or main story, in a literary or dramatic work (The plot was complicated and slow).

✅ Narrative refers to a story or account of events, either true or fictional (The narrative supported the villain’s point of view).

✅ Plot can refer to the entire, detailed main story in a work, or it can refer to the basic outline of what happens (The plot was quite predictable, but the narrative was complex).

✅ Narrative refers to the whole account of events, including things that aren’t part of the main story, and may even refer to a book or literary work itself (They were adept at writing memorable narratives).