An unstated doubt that prevents you from accepting something wholeheartedly.

synonyms: arriere pensee, reservation.

Roget 520: equivocalness etc. adj.; double meaning etc. 516; ambiguity, double entente, double entendre [Fr.], pun, paragram^†, calembour^†, quibble, equivoque [Fr.], anagram; conundrum etc. (riddle) 533; play on words, word play etc. (wit) 842; homonym, homonymy [Gramm.]; amphiboly^†, amphibology^†; ambilogy^†, ambiloquy^†.    Sphinx, Delphic oracle.    equivocation etc. (duplicity) 544; white lie, mental reservation etc. (concealment) 528; paltering.    ... 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