weasel word

Meanings

Noun

• A word that negates or removes the meaning of the word it qualifies.
• A word used to hedge a statement, for example to make it vague, equivocal or misleading.

Verb

• To use weasel words.

Origin

• Initially a reference weasels' practice of making small holes in eggs and then eating the contents, leaving the shell; later sometimes taken as a reference to the weasel's "wriggling, evasive character".