insinuation

UK/ɪnˌsɪnjuˈeɪʃən/US/ɪnˌsɪnjuˈeɪʃən/

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spoken

Other forms: insinuations

An insinuation is a nasty hint dropped without ever being said outright. The sentence that leaves the accusation hanging in the air.

The whole force of it is deniability: somebody who makes an insinuation can look wounded and say they meant nothing by it, which is what makes the word so useful and the tactic so annoying. You resent an insinuation, and you can deny one. The verb is insinuate — what exactly are you insinuating is the standard challenge. Insinuate has a second, physical sense as well, meaning to work your way in somewhere slowly, as in he insinuated himself into the group.

Definitions of insinuation

1nouninsinuationAn unpleasant suggestion made indirectly rather than stated.C1
“I resent the insinuation that I knew all along.”
synonyms: innuendo, implication

Where it comes from

Insinuation works its way in. Latin īnsinuāre meant to creep or push in, built on sinus, a fold or a bay, so the remark slips into a gap instead of being said outright.

Latin
insinuatio
Middle French
insinuation
English, today
insinuation

Built from

īnsinuō · Latin — to push in, creep in, steal in
in · Latin — in
sinus · Latin — a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom

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”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 8 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

insinuation in the wild

The term is also used derisively by critics as an insinuation of aggrandizement by such ministers.
Televangelism
In the study of language and communication, indirect speech and insinuation are analysed as ways for a speaker to preserve deniability about the intended meaning of an utterance.
Plausible deniability
An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature.
Innuendo
Most unacceptable in Westminster systems is any insinuation that another member is dishonourable.
Unparliamentary language
Bobby Ross said that he was offended by unfounded "innuendo, insinuation and guilt by association" aimed at the football team and resigned as head coach.
List of Maryland Terrapins football seasons

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the sinus family

insinuating

insinuation — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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