What does weaseling mean?
Weaseling describes conduct that avoids clarity, commitment, or the truth, especially through indirect or misleading language. The word is commonly used for political answers that evade a question, for negotiations designed to avoid responsibility, and more generally for any frustrating display of evasion or evasive behavior. Its implication is deliberately negative: ordinary hesitation or imprecise speech is not usually called weaseling, whereas an answer that appears to offer information while carefully withholding a meaningful response certainly may be. Weaseling can also denote the underlying behavior rather than a particular speech act. Because the term derives from the verb weasel, it may describe both crafty speech and broader underhanded conduct. In everyday use, it is usually informal and pejorative, making it a forceful way to criticize evasiveness without specifying exactly how it occurred.
Evasive, indirect, and deliberately misleading behavior, especially in speech.
"The committee accused him of weaseling rather than answering the allegations directly."
Usually critical or disapproving; the behavior is commonly understood as intentional rather than merely accidental.
To behave evasively or craftily, especially by using indirect or misleading language.
"He began to weasel when the interviewer asked about his finances."
As a verb form, it commonly has a pejorative tone and appears in criticism of evasive speech or conduct.
The plural is rare; the noun is ordinarily uncountable.
"The interview was full of weaselings, but none of them answered the question."
The word turns the weasel's traditional reputation for guile into a warning label for answers that slip away from the point.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weaseling
The word comes from weasel, a verb meaning to evade or act in a crafty and underhanded manner. That figurative sense developed from the animal's longstanding reputation for guile and for seeming to slip through narrow openings. The gerund weaseling became established as a noun for the behavior itself, with weaselling serving as a common British spelling variant.
How weaseling is actually used
Informal to mildly derogatory. It generally implies deliberate avoidance or deception, and is therefore more critical than neutral terms such as vagueness or indirectness.