equivocation

This term describes a deliberate strategy of ambiguity. It is most frequently encountered in political, legal, or theological contexts where a speaker intends to avoid a direct answer or evade responsibility without telling an outright lie. The feeling is one of slipperiness or evasion, where the truth is obscured by the precise but misleading use of language. In logic and rhetoric, it refers to a specific fallacy where a single word is used with two different meanings to reach a false conclusion. This creates a deceptive bridge between two unrelated ideas, making an argument seem valid when it is actually based on a linguistic trick.