tergiversations

Noun

tergiversation (countable and uncountable, plural tergiversations)

1. The act of abandoning something or someone, of changing sides; desertion; betrayal.
   • They make their outward impudence their mask, as foxes, the better we may not see where they truly tend, nor their true black tergiversation beneath.1985, John Fowles, A Maggot

   Synonyms:

   perfidy, prodition, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss, perfidiousness, Punic faith, stab in the back

2. The act of evading any clear course of action or speech, of being deliberately ambiguous; equivocation; fickleness.
   • Anyone who desires an hour's amusement may be advised to look up the tergiversations of eminent craniologists in their attempts to prove from brain measurements that women are stupider than men.1931, Bertrand Russell, The Scientific Outlook