Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.

synonyms: beat around the bush, equivocate, prevaricate, tergiversate.

Roget 544: be false etc. adj., be a liar etc. 548; speak falsely etc. adv.; tell a lie etc. 546; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness.    misstate, misquote, miscite^†, misreport, misrepresent; belie, falsify, pervert, distort; put a false construction upon etc. (misinterpret); prevaricate, equivocate, quibble; palter, palter to the understanding; repondre en Normand [Fr.]; trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose.    garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to; give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon; color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider; varnish right and puzzle wrong; exaggerate etc. 549; blague^†.    invent, fabricate; trump up, get up; force, fake, hatch, concoct; romance etc. (imagine) 515; cry 'wolf!'.    dissemble, dissimulate; feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe; play possum; play false, play a double game; coquet; act a part, play a part; affect etc. 855; simulate, pass off for; counterfeit, sham, make a show of; malinger; say the grapes are sour.    cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror; hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors; commend the poisoned chalice to the lips" [Macbeth]; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces [Lat.]; deceive etc. 545.    ... show more

Roget 605: be irresolute etc. adj.; hang in suspense, keep in suspense; leave "ad referendum"; think twice about, pause; dawdle etc. (inactivity) 683; remain neuter; dillydally, hesitate, boggle, hover, dacker^†, hum and haw, demur, not know one's own mind; debate, balance; dally with, coquet with; will and will not, chaser-balancer^†; go halfway, compromise, make a compromise; be thrown off one's balance, stagger like a drunken man; be afraid etc. 860; let 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would'" [Macbeth]; falter, waver vacillate etc. 149; change etc. 140; retract etc. 607; fluctuate; pendulate^†; alternate etc. (oscillate) 314; keep off and on, play fast and loose; blow hot and cold etc. (caprice) 608.    shuffle, palter, blink; trim.    ... show more

Roget 773: fail, neglect, omit, elude, evade, give the go-by to, set aside, ignore; shut one's eyes to, close one's eyes to.    infringe, transgress, violate, pirate, break, trample under foot, do violence to, drive a coach and six through.    discard, protest, repudiate, fling to the winds, set at naught, nullify, declare null and void; cancel etc. (wipe off) 552.    retract, go back from, be off, forfeit, go from one's word, palter; stretch a point, strain a point.    ... show more

Dutch: liegen, om iets heen draaien, dubbelzinnig spreken, terugkrabbelen, om de hete brei dansen, rond de pot draaien, afwijken, draaien