A statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth.

synonym: equivocation.

Roget 927: dereliction of duty; fault etc. (guilt) 947; sin etc. (vice) 945; non-observance, non-performance; neglect, relaxation, infraction, violation, transgression, failure, evasion; dead letter.    ... show more

Roget 773: nonobservance etc. 772; evasion, inobservance, failure, omission, neglect, laches [Law], laxity, informality.    infringement, infraction; violation, transgression; piracy.    retraction, retractation^†, repudiation, nullification; protest; forfeiture.    lawlessness; disobedience etc. 742; bad faith etc. 940.    ... show more

Roget 544: falsehood, falseness; falsity, falsification; deception etc. 545; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. 454; untruth etc. 546; guile; lying etc. v.. misrepresentation; mendacity, perjury, false swearing; forgery, invention, fabrication; subreption^†; covin^†.    perversion of truth, suppression of truth; suppressio veri [Lat.]; perversion, distortion, false coloring; exaggeration etc. 549; prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud; suggestio falsi etc. (lie) 546 [Lat.]; mystification etc. (concealment) 528; simulation etc. (imitation) 19; dissimulation, dissembling; deceit; blague^†.    sham; pretense, pretending, malingering.    lip homage, lip service; mouth honor; hollowness; mere show, mere outside; duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug; jesuitism, jesuitry; pharisaism; Machiavelism, organized hypocrisy;" crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness^†, quackery; charlatanism^†, charlatanry; gammon; bun-kum^†, bumcombe, flam; bam [Slang], flimflam, cajolery, flattery; Judas kiss; perfidy etc. (bad faith) 940; il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti [It].    unfairness etc. (dishonesty) 940; artfulness etc. (cunning) 702; misstatement etc. (error) 495.    ... show more

Roget 528: concealment; hiding etc. v.; occultation, mystification.    seal of secrecy; screen etc. 530; disguise etc. 530; masquerade; masked battery; hiding place etc. 530; cryptography, steganography^†; freemasonry.    stealth, stealthiness, sneakiness; obreption^†; slyness etc. (cunning) 702.    latitancy^†, latitation^†; seclusion etc. 893; privacy, secrecy, secretness^†; incognita.    reticence; reserve; mental reserve, reservation; arriere pensee [Fr.], suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision; silence etc. (taciturnity) 585; suppression of truth etc. 544; underhand dealing; closeness, secretiveness etc. adj.; mystery.    latency etc. 526; snake in the grass; secret etc. 533; stowaway.    ... show more

Roget 477: intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling; presentiment, premonition; rule of thumb; superstition; astrology^†; faith (supposition) 514.    sophistry, paralogy^†, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion; chicane, chicanery; quiddet^†, quiddity; mystification; special pleading; speciousness etc. adj.; nonsense etc. 497; word sense, tongue sense.    false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning; petitio principii [Lat.], ignoratio elenchi [Lat.]; post hoc ergo propter hoc [Lat.]; non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius [Lat.].    misjudgment etc. 481; false teaching etc. 538.    sophism, solecism, paralogism^†; quibble, quirk, elenchus^†, elench^†, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet^†; inconsistency, antilogy^†; a delusion, a mockery, and a snare" [Denman]; claptrap, cant, mere words; lame and impotent conclusion" [Othello]. meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry; flaw in an argument; weak point, bad case.    overrefinement^†; hairsplitting etc. v.. ... show more

Roget 702: cunning, craft; cunningness^†, craftiness etc. adj.; subtlety, artificiality; maneuvering etc. v.; temporization; circumvention.    chicane, chicanery; sharp practice, knavery, jugglery^†; concealment etc. 528; guile, doubling, duplicity etc. (falsehood) 544; foul play.    diplomacy, politics; Machiavelism; jobbery, backstairs influence.    art, artifice; device, machination; plot etc. (plan) 626; maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery etc. (deception) 545; ruse, ruse de guerre [Fr.]; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie etc. (untruth) 546; juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie [Fr.]; net, trap etc. 545.    Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard; Scotchman; Jew, Yankee; intriguer, intrigant^†; floater [U.S.], Indian giver [U.S.], keener [U.S.], repeater [U.S.].    ... show more

Roget 546: untruth, falsehood, lie, story, thing that is not, fib, bounce, crammer, taradiddle^†, whopper; jhuth^†.    forgery, fabrication, invention; misstatement, misrepresentation; perversion, falsification, gloss, suggestio falsi [Lat.]; exaggeration etc. 549.    invention, fabrication, fiction; fable, nursery tale; romance etc. (imagination) 515; absurd story, untrue story, false story, trumped up story, trumped up statement; thing devised by the enemy; canard; shave, sell, hum, traveler's tale, Canterbury tale, cock and bull story, fairy tale, fake; claptrap.    press agent's yarn; puff, puffery (exaggeration) 549.    myth, moonshine, bosh, all my eye and Betty Martin, mare's nest, farce.    irony; half truth, white lie, pious fraud; mental reservation etc. (concealment) 528.    pretense, pretext; false plea etc. 617; subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe; sham etc. (deception) 545.    profession, empty words; Judas kiss etc. (hypocrisy) 544; disguise etc. (mask) 530.    ... show more

The deliberate act of failing to pay money:
— His evasion of all his creditors.

synonym: nonpayment.

Nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do:
— His evasion of his clear duty was reprehensible.

synonyms: dodging, escape.

Roget 623: abstention, abstinence; for bearance^†; refraining etc. v.; inaction etc. 681; neutrality.    avoidance, evasion, elusion; seclusion etc. 893.    avolation^†, flight; escape etc. 671; retreat etc. 287; recoil etc. 277; departure etc. 293; rejection etc. 610.    shirker etc. v.; truant; fugitive, refugee; runaway, runagate; maroon.    ... show more

Roget 671: escape, scape; avolation^†, elopement, flight; evasion etc. (avoidance) 623; retreat; narrow escape, hairbreadth escape; close call; come off, impunity.    [Means of escape] loophole etc. (opening) 260; path etc. 627; refuse etc. 666; vent, vent peg; safety valve; drawbridge, fire escape.    reprieve etc. (deliverance) 672; liberation etc. 750.    refugee etc. (fugitive) 623.    ... show more

Dutch: ontduiking

The act of physically escaping from something (an opponent or a pursuer or an unpleasant situation) by some adroit maneuver.

Dutch: evasie, uitvlucht, voorwendsel, ontwijking, ontsnapping