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Insinuate vs Insincere - What's the difference?

insinuate | insincere |

As a verb insinuate

is (rare) to creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.

As an adjective insincere is

not genuinely meaning what has been expressed; not sincere; artificial.

insinuate

English

Verb

  • (rare) To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.
  • * Woodward
  • The water easily insinuates itself into, and placidly distends, the vessels of vegetables.
  • (figurative, by extension) To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.
  • * 1995 , , p. 242
  • 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.
  • * John Locke
  • 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.
  • * Dryden
  • Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts.
  • * Clarendon
  • He insinuated himself into the very good grace of the Duke of Buckingham.
  • To hint; to suggest tacitly while avoiding a direct statement.
  • She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.

    Synonyms

    * (Make a way for or introduce something by subtle, crafty or artful means. ): imply

    Anagrams

    * ----

    insincere

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not genuinely meaning what has been expressed; not sincere; artificial.
  • Janice's added glares showed that her apology was insincere.
  • Not serious.
  • Antonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * insincerely * insincerity ----