different between tergiversation vs tergiversate

English

Etymology

From Latin tergivers?ti?.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /t?d???v??se???n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t??d???v??se???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

tergiversation (countable and uncountable, plural tergiversations)

1. The act of abandoning something or someone, of changing sides; desertion; betrayal.
2. The act of evading any clear course of action or speech, of being deliberately ambiguous; equivocation; fickleness.

Related terms

• tergiversate

Translations

Anagrams

• interrogatives, reinvestigator

French

Etymology

From Latin tergivers?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??.?i.v??.sa.sj??/

Noun

tergiversation f (plural tergiversations)

1. Delays in providing a clear answer caused by hesitations or an outright unwillingness to be forthright.

Usage notes

• Usage as a pluralia tantum rather than as a mass noun is more common.

Further reading

• “tergiversation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Latin tergiversor (“turn one's back, make excuses”); from tergum (“the back”) + vers?, frequentative of vert? (“turn”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??d??v?se?t/
• (US) enPR: t?r-j?v'?r-s?t, IPA^(key): /t??d??v?se?t/

Verb

tergiversate (third-person singular simple present tergiversates, present participle tergiversating, simple past and past participle tergiversated)

1. (intransitive) To evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to obfuscate in a deliberate manner.
2. (intransitive) To change sides or affiliation; to apostatize.
3. (intransitive, rare) To flee by turning one's back.

Synonyms

• (to evade, obfuscate): prevaricate, beat around the bush
• (to change sides): desert

Derived terms

• tergiversation

Translations

Italian

Verb

tergiversate

1. second-person plural present indicative of tergiversare
2. second-person plural imperative of tergiversare
3. feminine plural of tergiversato

Anagrams

• gravitereste

Latin

Participle

tergivers?te

1. vocative masculine singular of tergivers?tus