What does equivocate mean?
To equivocate is to speak in deliberately vague or ambiguous terms in order to avoid stating one's true position, particularly when honesty would be costly or inconvenient. A witness who equivocates, a politician who equivocates, or a company spokesperson who equivocates all share a strategy: saying enough to appear responsive while committing to nothing. The word comes from the Latin roots aequus ('equal') and vocare ('to call'), originally suggesting the weighing of two claims with equal voice — a sense that survives in its cousin 'equivocal', meaning open to more than one interpretation. Unlike simple hesitation, equivocation implies intent: it suggests the speaker knows the truth and is choosing to obscure it. For this reason the word carries a sharply negative connotation and appears most often in formal writing — journalism, political analysis, and legal discourse. Its opposite in spirit is speaking plainly or unequivocally.
To use ambiguous or evasive language in order to conceal the truth or avoid making a firm commitment.
"Pressed repeatedly for a straight answer, the director continued to equivocate."
Typically used with prepositions such as 'about', 'on', or 'over'; often implies deliberate deception.
(Rare, chiefly historical) To employ a word or phrase in a doubtful or double sense; to pun.
"The prophecy was framed so that it could be read either way — the oracle had equivocated."
This older scholastic and rhetorical sense is now uncommon but survives in discussions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and medieval logic.
Equivocate literally means 'to call by equal voices' — from Latin aequus (equal) and vocare (to call) — because you're giving two opposing claims equal weight instead of picking one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of equivocate
Equivocate derives from the Late Latin verb aequivocare, formed from aequus ('equal') plus vocare ('to call'), literally meaning 'to call by the same name'. It entered English in the early 15th century, initially carrying a scholastic and theological sense: using a term ambiguously or applying one word to things of different natures. By the 16th and 17th centuries it had acquired its modern pejorative sense of speaking evasively to deceive. It shares the vocare root with words like 'vocation', 'advocate', and 'invoke', and the aequus root with 'equal' and 'equivalent'.
Related word forms
How equivocate is actually used
Formal register; common in political commentary, journalism, and legal contexts. It carries a strongly negative connotation, implying dishonesty or cowardice rather than mere caution. The noun form is 'equivocation'.
Easily confused with equivocate
Equivocate is a verb meaning to speak evasively, while equivocal is an adjective describing language or evidence that is open to more than one interpretation.
Ambiguous describes something inherently unclear or open to multiple meanings, whereas equivocating is a deliberate act of using such vagueness to evade or mislead.