INSINUATE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Insinuate

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/ɪnsˈɪnjueɪt/ Listen

verb

Insinuate v. t. (past & past part. insinuated; pres. part. insinuating)

1.

To introduce gently or slowly, as by a winding or narrow passage, or a gentle, persistent movement. "The water easily insinuates itself into, and placidly distends, the vessels of vegetables."

2.

To introduce artfully; to infuse gently; to instill. "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." "Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts."

3.

To hint; to suggest by remote allusion; often used derogatorily; as, did you mean to insinuate anything?

4.

To push or work (one's self), as into favor; to introduce by slow, gentle, or artful means; to ingratiate; used reflexively. "He insinuated himself into the very good grace of the Duke of Buckingham."

Synonyms: To instill; hint; suggest; intimate.

Insinuate v. i.

1.

To creep, wind, or flow in; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.

2.

To ingratiate one's self; to obtain access or favor by flattery or cunning. "He would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh." "To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs."

See images of 'Insinuate'

Etymology of 'Insinuate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Insinuate" Quotes from Famous Books

... lost. The clerk or apprentice who gloats over his master's gold, sooner or later appropriates it. He does so when he has got over the habitual feeling which made any approach to it an impossibility. Thus the habits which insinuate themselves into the thousand inconsiderable acts of life, constitute a very large part ...

— Thrift • Samuel Smiles

... if you should do so suddenly or clumsily. But you must insinuate the idea very slowly and subtlely. Clarence is not for the works; Clarence is too good for this world—at least for the business of this world. I think him half an imbecile! My father does not hesitate to call him ...

— For Woman's Love • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... whole world could be jealous of a poor girl like myself. But, though a queen, she is still a woman, and her heart, like that of any of her sex, cannot close itself against the suspicions which such as are evilly disposed insinuate. For Heaven's sake, sire, think no more of me, I ...

— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas

... from giving money to Mr. William Booth...Mr. Huxley's views on theology may be wrong, but nobody doubts that he honestly holds them; they do not bring Mr. Huxley wealth and honours, nor do they cause the murder of the innocent. To insinuate a resemblance which you dare not state openly is an outrage on common decency...] Generally people like me to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them, but don't care to take any share in the ...

— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 3 • Leonard Huxley

... fragrance of hot ginger-bread filled the apartment. Then Red-Cap bobbed away at a corner cupboard, until he extracted therefrom a small keg or runlet of St. Croix rum of most ripe age and choice flavor, some of which, by an adroit and experienced crook of the elbow, he managed to insinuate into the milk, which, with a little brown sugar, he stirred up carefully and deliberately with a large spoon, Picton and I watching the proceedings with intense interest. Then the punch was poured out and handed around; while the good wife made little trips from guest to guest ...

— Acadia - or, A Month with the Blue Noses • Frederic S. Cozzens

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