| a word used to temper the forthrightness of a statement; a word that makes one's views equivocal, misleading, or confusing. |
| weasel word n. An equivocal word used to deprive a statement of its force or to evade a direct commitment. [From the weasel's habit of sucking the contents out of an egg without breaking the shell.] |
weasel word
A word used to deprive a statement of its force or evade a direct commitment, as in Calling it "organized spontaneity" is using a weasel word; "organized" has sucked the meaning out of "spontaneity." This idiom may allude to the weasel's habit of sucking the contents out of a bird's egg, so that only the shell remains. [Late 1800s]