Insinuate

 WORD OF THE DAY

insinuate / verb /  in -SIN-yuh-wayt

Definition

1a: to impart or suggest in an artful or indirect way 

1b: imply

1c: to introduce (something, such as an idea) gradually or in a subtle, indirect, or covert way

2: to introduce (someone, such as oneself) by stealthy, smooth, or artful means

3a (archaic) : to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly 

3b: creep

4 (archaic): to ingratiate oneself

Examples

Racist and antisemitic tropes are prevalent in the QAnon mythos, popping up in story lines that insinuate Jewish people are behind an effort to control the world.

— Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2021

Tennessee continues to insinuate masks don't work and the task of keeping kids safe from COVID-19 in schools is an individual, not community, task, according to legal arguments in federal court.

— Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 22 Nov. 2021

Did You Know?

The meaning of insinuate is similar to that of another verb, suggest. Whether you suggest or insinuate something, you are conveying an idea indirectly. 

But although these two words share the same basic meaning, each gets the idea across in a different way. 

When you suggest something, you put it into the mind by associating it with other ideas, desires, or thoughts. 

You might say, for example, that a book's title suggests what the story is about. 

The word insinuate, on the other hand, usually includes a sense that the idea being conveyed is unpleasant, or that it is being passed along in a sly or underhanded way ("She insinuated that I cheated").