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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

insinuate en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • (Australia) audio
  • /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)

Etymology

First attested in 1529; Borrowed from Latin īnsinuātus, perfect passive participle of īnsinuō (“to push in, creep in, steal in”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”) -ō (verb-forming suffix). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Meanings

  1. (as a participle, obsolete) Insinuated.
    • The great mistery of Christes passyon […] lyttle and lyttle at sundry seasons to bee sygnifyed and insinuate conueniently to man. 1534, Thomas More, Treatise upon the Passion, I. The First Lecture:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more insinuate Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most insinuate Degree=Sup lexicographic

wikipedia: Early Modern English

insinuate en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • (Australia) audio
  • /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)

Etymology

First attested in 1529; Borrowed from Latin īnsinuātus, perfect passive participle of īnsinuō (“to push in, creep in, steal in”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”) -ō (verb-forming suffix). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Meanings

  1. To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.
    • And, moreover, you need not for a moment to insinuate that the virtues have taken refuge in cottages and wholly abandoned slated houses. 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Hollow’s Cottage”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 82:
    • And wilt thou inſinuate what I am? and praiſe me? And ſay I am a Noble Fellow? 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii:
    • ‘You are quite wrong, my love, in your guess at my meaning. What I insinuated was, that my Georgiana’s little heart was growing conscious of a vacancy.’ 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC:
    • She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.
  2. (rare) To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.
    • 1728-1729, John Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England Water will insinuate itself into Flints through certain imperceptible Cracks
    • Some speakers allow the sound of r to insinuate itself between the a and s of wash 1999, Charles Harrington Estler, The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, page 403:
  3. (broadly, figuratively) To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.
    • […] he insinuated himself into the confidence of one already so forlorn—[…] 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 306:
    • Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts. 1693, John Dryden, “[The Dedication]”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
    • Nanny didn't so much enter places as insinuate herself; she had unconsciously taken a natural talent for liking people and developed it into an occult science. 1995, Terry Pratchett, Maskerade, page 242:
    • He[…] insinuated himself into the very good grace of the Duke of Buckingham. 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater:
    • All the art of rhetoric, besides order and clearness, are for nothing else but to insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the judgment. 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 3, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
insinuated Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
insinuated Tense=Past lexicographic
insinuates Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
insinuating Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

insinuatingness · uninsinuated · insinuatory · insinuative · insinuatingly

Relateds

insinuation · insinuator · sinuous

Synonyms

insinuate · hint · signify · intimate · imply · indicate · moot · inkle · advert · refer · allude · suggest

Translations (54)

ar أَلْمَحَ (hint at (something)) · tl magparinig (hint at (something)) · tl paringgan (hint at (something)) · ar لَمَّحَ (hint at (something)) · ar اِنْدَسّ (ingratiate oneself) · cmn 影射 (hint at (something)) · de insinuieren (hint at (something)) · el υπαινίσσομαι (hint at (something)) · fi mielistellä (ingratiate oneself) · bg намекна (hint at (something)) · uk натякну́ти (hint at (something)) · uk натяка́ти (hint at (something)) · cs naznačovat (hint at (something)) · de sich einschmeicheln (ingratiate oneself) · el υπονοώ (hint at (something)) · ar تسحّب (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · bg промъквам се (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · ru заи́скивать пе́ред (ingratiate oneself) · bg промъкна се (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · de sich einschleichen (ingratiate oneself) · fr insinuer (hint at (something)) · pl przypochlebiać się (ingratiate oneself) · pl insynuować (hint at (something)) · bg прокрадна се (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · bg насаждам (ingratiate oneself) · ja 当て付ける (hint at (something)) · cs vetřít se (ingratiate oneself) · bg внушавам (ingratiate oneself) · ar تسلل (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · bg насадя (ingratiate oneself) · bg внедрявам (ingratiate oneself) · bg внуша (ingratiate oneself) · tl iparinig (hint at (something)) · pt insinuar (hint at (something)) · cs vlichotit se (ingratiate oneself) · bg внедря (ingratiate oneself) · ru сниска́ть ми́лость (ingratiate oneself) · fi vihjata (hint at (something)) · bg прокрадвам се (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · de unterstellen (hint at (something)) · es insinuar (hint at (something)) · sv insinuera (hint at (something)) · de andeuten (hint at (something)) · bg намеквам (hint at (something)) · nl insinueren (hint at (something)) · cs protlačit se (ingratiate oneself) · fi hivuttautua (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · ar أَشَارَ (hint at (something)) · cs naznačit (hint at (something)) · ru намека́ть (hint at (something)) · it insinuare (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · fi tihkua (creep or wind into, to enter gently) · ca insinuar (hint at (something)) · fr insinuer (ingratiate oneself)

wikipedia: Early Modern English