weasel word
noun
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Some people believe that weasels can suck the insides out of an egg without damaging the shell. An egg thus weasel-treated would look fine on the outside, but it would actually be empty and useless. We don't know if weasels can really do that, but the belief that they could caused people to start using "weasel word" to refer to any term intended to give the impression that everything is fine when the speaker is really trying to avoid answering a question, telling the truth, or taking the blame for something.
Examples of weasel word in a Sentence
Lily Hay Newman, WIRED, 5 Dec. 2023
To be sure — three of my favorite weasel words — being able to sit on an inherited IRA for up to 10 years without being required to take annual distributions isn’t ungenerous.
—Allan Sloan, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2020
Dictionary Entries Near weasel word
Cite this Entry
“Weasel word.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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