equivocation

• æquivocation (archaic)

c. 1380, from Middle English equivocacion, from Old French equivocation, from Medieval Latin aequivocātiō, from aequivocō, from Late Latin aequivocus (“ambiguous, equivocal”), from Latin aequus (“equal”) + vocō (“call”); a calque of Ancient Greek ὁμωνυμία (homōnumía).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɪˌkwɪvəˈkeɪʃən/, /ɪˌkwɪvəˈkeɪʃn̩/, /əˌkwɪvəˈkeɪʃn/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: e‧quiv‧o‧ca‧tion
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

equivocation (countable and uncountable, plural equivocations)

1. (logic) A logical fallacy resulting from the use of multiple meanings of a single expression.
2. The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, possibly intentionally and with the aim of misleading.
   • 2025 April 18, Henry Gass, “Amid deportation dispute, Trump and courts square off on who has last word”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     Federal courts have mostly ruled against the executive branch in such cases. The equivocation that has characterized the [Trump] administration’s legal responses to date is turning into objection and refusal.

• amphiboly, evasion, evasiveness, prevarication, equivoque

• https://www.logicalfallacies.org/equivocation.html

equivocation oblique singular, f (oblique plural equivocations, nominative singular equivocation, nominative plural equivocations)

1. equivocation

   Si avoit trovee occasion de li gaber par l'equivocation de son nom