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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

insinuate.

To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.

    She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.
  2. To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.

    rare
  3. To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.

    broadly · figuratively
Where this word comes from

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.

adj/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. Insinuated.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.