Other forms: equivocations
Equivocation is sliding between two meanings of a word mid-argument. A clear equivocation, without equivocation, guilty of equivocation.
It is a named fallacy: a term is used one way in the premise and another in the conclusion, so the argument looks valid and is not. In ordinary use it means deliberate vagueness meant to avoid committing yourself. The Latin means equal-voiced.
1nounequivocationSliding between two meanings of a word in an argument.
“His argument rests on an equivocation: he uses 'free' to mean both 'without cost' and 'without limits'.”
equivocation is a fallacy.
Latin aequivocus means ambiguous — aequus, equal, plus vox, a voice. One word with two voices.
Latin
aequivocus — ambiguous, equivocal
Medieval Latin
aequivocātiō
Old French
equivocation
Middle English
equivocacion
English, today
equivocation
Built from
c. 1380, from Middle English equivocacion, from Old French equivocation, from Medieval Latin aequivocātiō, from aequivocō, from Latin aequivocus (“ambiguous, equivocal”), from Latin aequus (“equal”) + vocō (“call”); a calque of Ancient Greek ὁμωνυμία.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA