Page 255 - Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary

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masters of equivocation (Ə-kwiv′-Ə-KAY′-shƏn)—they are, on most vital issues, mugwumps;

they sit on a fence with their mugs on one side and their wumps on the other. You will often
hear candidates for o ce say, publicly, that they unequivocally promise, if elected, to…;
and then they start equivocating for all they are worth, like people who say, “Let me be
perfectly frank with you”—and then promptly and glibly lie through their teeth.

3. statements of various kinds

Do not confuse equivocal with ambiguous (am′-BIG′-y -Əs). An equivocal statement is
purposely, deliberately (and with malice aforethought) couched in language that will be
deceptive; an ambiguous statement is accidentally couched in such language. Equivocal is, in

short, purposely ambiguous.
You will recall that ambi-, which we last met in ambivert and ambidextrous, is a root
meaning both; anything ambiguous may have both one meaning and another meaning. If
you say, “That sentence is the height of ambiguity,” you mean that you nd it vague
because it admits of both a rmative and negative interpretations, or because it may mean
two different things. Ambiguity is pronounced am′-bƏ-GY -Ə-tee.

Another type of statement or word contains the possibility of two interpretations—one of
them suggestive, risqué, or sexy. Such a statement or word is a double entendre. This is from
the French and translates literally as double meaning. Give the word as close a french
pronunciation as you can—D B′-lƏhn-TAHN′-drƏ. (The n’s are nasalized, the r somewhat
throaty, and the final syllable is barely audible.)

REVIEW OF ETYMOLOGY

PREFIX, ROOT, SUFFIX MEANING
1. par equal