insinuatory


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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.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

insinuatory

adjective
Provoking a change of outlook and especially gradual doubt and suspicion:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Rabbis adopted the insinuatory, "And let us say ...
On Times They Are A Changin' and When My Ship Comes In it is a question of changing society but by the time of Desolation Row, with its parade of folk heroes, as Gray puts it, 'in careful disarray; participants, victims and agests of a disordered, sick society' Dylan's target has become more focused on an America that 'mutates all humanity and offers insinuatory as well as polarising challenges, challenges against which the old liberal blueprints are worse than useless.' On this most important of Dylan's mid-60s period songs he is saying that the individual has to develop a strong sense of morality, 'to keep a clear head above all the poisonous waters of chaos and corrosion,' as Gray so vividly puts it.