mealymouthed
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Mealy-mouthed \Meal"y-mouthed`\, a.
Using soft words; not straightforward; plausible; affectedly
or timidly delicate of speech; speaking deviously; unwilling
to tell the truth in plain language. Opposite of {frank} or
{blunt}. "Mealy-mouthed philanthropies." --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks
so plain. --L'Estrange.
[1913 Webster] -- {Meal"y-mouth`ness}, n.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
86 Moby Thesaurus words for "mealymouthed":
Pecksniffian, Tartuffian, Tartuffish, abject, adulatory, affected,
backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blarneying,
bootlicking, buttery, cajoling, canting, casuistic, complimentary,
courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching,
dishonest, disingenuous, empty, fair-spoken, false, fawning,
fine-spoken, flattering, footlicking, fulsome, goody, goody-goody,
groveling, gushing, hangdog, holier-than-thou, hollow,
honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, hypocritic, hypocritical,
ingratiating, insincere, insinuating, jesuitic, obeisant,
obsequious, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, parasitic,
pharisaic, pharisean, pietistic, pious, prostrate, sanctified,
sanctimonious, self-righteous, simon-pure, slimy, slobbery, smarmy,
smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soapy,
soft-soaping, sponging, sycophantic, timeserving, toadeating,
toadying, toadyish, tongue in cheek, truckling, uncandid, unctuous,
unfrank, unserious, wheedling
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
19 Moby Thesaurus words for "mealy-mouthed":
ambiguous, artful, circumlocutory, deceitful, equivocal,
equivocating, euphemistic, hesitant, hypocritical, indirect,
mincing, oily, periphrastic, reluctant, reticent, roundabout,
slick, unctuous, vague
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