insinuation

Borrowed from Middle French insinuation, from Old French, from Latin insinuatio, from īnsinuō (“to push in, creep in, steal in”), from in (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˌsɪnjuˈeɪʃən/

• Audio (RP)

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

insinuation (countable and uncountable, plural insinuations)

1. The act or process of insinuating; a creeping, winding, or flowing in.
2. The act of gaining favor, affection, or influence, by gentle or artful means; — formerly used in a good sense, as of friendly influence or interposition.
3. The art or power of gaining good will by a prepossessing manner.
4. That which is insinuated; a hint; a suggestion, innuendo or intimation by distant allusion

   Slander may be conveyed by insinuations.

• insinuate
• insinuator

• insinuation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• insinuation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

From Old French, borrowed from Latin īnsinuātiō, īnsinuātiōnem.

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insinuation f (plural insinuations)

1. insinuation

• insinuer

• “insinuation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.