WordWealth: tergiversation

ter·gi·ver·sate , v.i., -sat·ed, -sat·ing.

1. to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate. 2. to turn renegade. [1645–55; < L tergiversātus (ptp. of tergiversārīto turn one's back), equiv. to tergi- (comb. form of tergum back) + versātus, ptp. of versāre, freq. of vertere to turn; see -ATE1]

—tergi·ver·sation, n.

—tergi·ver·sator, ter·gi·ver·sant , n.

—ter·gi·ver·sa·to·ry , adj.

(Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

Now that the weapons inspectors had "found nothing corroborating the American lies" after two months of searching, "we ask: has Blair finished with his lies and deception?"--Al-Thawrah concludes: "The answer is no, not at all; he is still engaged in trickery, tergiversation and lies, not only to try to find excuses for an aggression on Iraq, and to implicate Britain in it, but also to protect himself from the impact of the stifling impasse in which he has placed his government and himself." —— Iraqi Press Attacks UK, US Leaders; BBC; Tuesday, 28 Jan 28, 2003

Politically, Brown had passed from the Red Gordon of Edinburgh days, intent on nationalising everything not nailed down, through the usual tergiversations of the Labour reformers of the 1980s: first anti-Europe, then pro-Europe, in favour of fixed exchange rates for sterling, then against them. After Smith's death in 1994, Brown lost the leadership of the party to Blair and not merely because the prime minister is more political, as he showed at Bournemouth. Brown was tarred with his enthusiasm for the European exchange-rate mechanism. (Incidentally, Keegan rehabilitates Norman Lamont as the first of the reasonably competent British finance ministers of the 90s.) —— William Keegan; Proceed With Caution, the Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown; the Guardian; Oct 18, 2003

No doubt if I worked on it, I could evolve some kind of double-talk that would get around the offensive phrase, and make the, to me, face-saving implication; but to hell with that, I have too much respect for the English language, and for your understanding of it, to go in for tergiversation and weasely circumlocution. —— Richard Gillman, Standing Up to Ezra Pound, New York Times, August 25, 1991

Like most writers, I have always championed thrift . . . . Not long ago, however, I experienced an extraordinary tergiversation. Now I'm an ally of excess, a proponent of redundancy. —— Michael Norman, 'When an Author's Words Are Sold by the Pound'; New York Times, Sept 15, 1991

See also 'tergiversation' from a British viewpoint
 

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