insinuation
Other forms: insinuations
An insinuation is a sly way of saying something, usually something insulting. It can also be a way of worming your way into a group or situation.
"You're dumb!" is an insult. An insinuation is different: it's a way of indirectly saying something. Insinuation evolved from the Latin insinuationem, meaning "entrance through a narrow way.” So an insinuation is like an insult that sneaks in the back door. Mentioning that your cousin could try harder in school could be an insinuation that your cousin’s lazy. Another kind of insinuation is when someone, often through flattery, gets herself accepted by others. Both kinds of insinuations are sneaky.
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an indirect (and usually malicious) implication
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synonyms:
innuendo
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type of:
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implication
an accusation that brings into intimate and usually incriminating connection
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implication
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the act of gaining acceptance or affection for yourself by persuasive and subtle blandishments“she refused to use insinuation in order to gain favor”
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synonyms:
ingratiation
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type of:
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blandishment, wheedling
the act of urging by means of teasing or flattery
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blandishment, wheedling
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Vocabulary lists containing insinuation
This companion novel to Last Night at the Telegraph Club takes place fifty years later and follows eighteen-year-old Aria Tang West who spends the summer with her artistic grandmother in California.
In this reimagining of Romeo and Juliet set in Shanghai in the 1920s, two teens from rival gangs must work together to end a feud.
In the first volume of the Ascendance series, a nobleman tries to seize power by training a boy to impersonate a long-lost prince.
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