Insinuate

/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/ · verb

Meaning

To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement..

Definitions by Sense

1. To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.
2. (rare) To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.
3. (figurative, by extension) To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.
4. (as a participle) Insinuated.

Example Sentences

She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.

And wilt thou inſinuate what I am? and praiſe me? And ſay I am a Noble Fellow?

And, moreover, you need not for a moment to insinuate that the virtues have taken refuge in cottages and wholly abandoned slated houses.

‘You are quite wrong, my love, in your guess at my meaning. What I insinuated was, that my Georgiana’s little heart was growing conscious of a vacancy.’

1728-1729, John Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England Water will insinuate itself into Flints through certain imperceptible Cracks

Some speakers allow the sound of r to insinuate itself between the a and s of wash

All the art of rhetoric, besides order and clearness, are for nothing else but to insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the judgment.

Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts.

Synonyms for insinuate

Antonyms for insinuate

Related Words

Word Forms

• insinuates
• insinuating
• insinuated
• more insinuate
• most insinuate

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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