equivocate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English equivocaten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin aequivocātus, the past participle of aequivocō (“to call by the same name; to have the same sound”),^[3][5][6][7] from Late Latin aequivocus (“of identical sound; ambiguous”).^[8][3][9] The adjective is formed from Latin aequus (“equal”) and vocō (“to call”), which is related to vōx (“voice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[3] The OED compares Italian equivocare and French équivoquer.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To apply a word to more than one thing, to use a word in more than one sense: before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's surgery, where the womb is said to be equiuocate to two things.^[2][9][10] Etymonline gives the early 15th century,^[3] but the OED, in an entry not fully revised, has no quotation before 1590.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The neutral logical sense, to use words with more than one meaning, lasted until the late 17th century.^[8][9] From 1590 the word was used in a bad sense, to say one thing and mean another, to prevaricate,^[8][5] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "to use words of double meaning; to use ambiguous expressions; to mean one thing and express another", quoting Dryden: "Not only Jesuits can equivocate."^[11] In the 17th century it was also used of evading an oath or promise by ambiguous words (1629–49), and Cotgrave (1611) has it for having the same sound as another word.^[8] A rare noun equivocate, a word identical in form with another but not in meaning, is recorded from 1881 in the OED;^[8] the Shorter Oxford dates it to the late 17th century.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1425 – to use a word in more than one sense.^[2]
• 1590 – to speak ambiguously so as to mislead; to prevaricate.^[8][5]
• 1609 – to use words of double meaning (obsolete by 1686).^[8]
• 1611 – to have the same sound as another word (obsolete).^[8]
• 1629 – to evade an oath or promise by equivocation (obsolete by 1649).^[8]
• 1881 – noun, a word identical in form with another but different in meaning.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To use ambiguous or vague language, especially in order to mislead or to avoid answering directly: Pressed about the missing funds, the treasurer could only equivocate.^[12][5][8]
2. To avoid committing oneself in what one says; to hedge.^[5][12]
3. (obsolete, until the late 17th century) To use a word in more than one sense.^[8][9][2]

Noun

1. (rare) A word identical in form with another but different in meaning.^[8][9]

Word family

• equivocator
• equivocation
• equivocatingly
• nonequivocating

Related words

• equivocal
• equivoque
• univocal
• equal
• voice
• vocation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins