Dictionary entry

Tergiversation

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Ter′gi‐ver‐sa″tion (?), n. [L. tergiversario: cf. F. tergiversation.] 1. The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge; evasion.

Writing is to be preferred before verbal conferences, as being freer from passions and tergiversations. Abp. Bramhall.

2. Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change.

The colonel, after all his tergiversations, lost his life in the king's service. Clarendon.