tergiversation

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

tergiversation
    n 1: falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language [syn:
         {equivocation}, {tergiversation}]
    2: the act of abandoning a party for cause [syn: {apostasy},
       {tergiversation}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Tergiversation \Ter`gi*ver*sa"tion\, n. [L. tergiversario: cf.
   F. tergiversation.]
   1. The act of tergiversating; a shifting; shift; subterfuge;
      evasion.
      [1913 Webster]

            Writing is to be preferred before verbal
            conferences, as being freer from passions and
            tergiversations.                      --Abp.
                                                  Bramhall.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Fickleness of conduct; inconstancy; change.
      [1913 Webster]

            The colonel, after all his tergiversations, lost his
            life in the king's service.           --Clarendon.
      [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

18 Moby Thesaurus words for "tergiversation":
      about-face, amphibology, apostasy, denial, desertion, disavowal,
      double entendre, double meaning, equivocality, equivocation,
      equivoque, falseness, forswearing, recreancy, renunciation,
      repudiation, reversal, reverse