insinuator


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in·sin·u·ate

 (ĭn-sĭn′yo͞o-āt′)
v. in·sin·u·at·ed, in·sin·u·at·ing, in·sin·u·ates
v.tr.
1. To express or otherwise convey (a thought, for example) in an indirect or insidious way. See Synonyms at suggest.
2.
a. To maneuver or insert (oneself) into a place: "One of the boys insinuated himself next to me and squeezed my hand" (Caroline Preston).
b. To cause (oneself) to be involved or accepted by subtle and artful means: insinuated himself into court intrigues; insinuated herself into my good graces.
v.intr.
To make insinuations.

[Latin īnsinuāre, īnsinuāt- : in-, in; see in-2 + sinuāre, to curve (from sinus, curve).]

in·sin′u·a′tive adj.
in·sin′u·a′tor n.
in·sin′u·a·tor′y (-yo͞o-ə-tôr′ē) adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Here's a statement that an Insinuator might make on a fishing report, "Let's just say I got a hog walleye on my first cast and it just went on from there." What this really means is he got lucky on his first cast, caught a 16-inch walleye and then never got another bite.
Cranked up in turn as Arian monk, Nestorian partisan, Jacobite insinuator, hostile witness, guileless victim, and interfaith mercenary, Bahira comes full circle, having meanwhile executed an adroit errand for the beleaguered Christian imagination.
examples, the insinuator discloses almost no actual information, but the