Library / English Dictionary

INSINUATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give to understand

Example:

I insinuated that I did not like his wife

Synonyms:

adumbrate; insinuate; intimate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "insinuate" is one way to...):

hint; suggest (drop a hint; intimate by a hint)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They insinuate that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

insinuation (an indirect (and usually malicious) implication)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Introduce or insert (oneself) in a subtle manner

Example:

He insinuated himself into the conversation of the people at the nearby table

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "insinuate" is one way to...):

bring in; introduce (bring in a new person or object into a familiar environment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

No, Peggotty, returned my mother, but you insinuated.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No!—(in an accent meant to be insinuating)—I am sure you have seen and understood me.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

She had a great deal to insinuate in her own praise as to general attention to the interest and comfort of his family, much exertion and many sacrifices to glance at in the form of hurried walks and sudden removals from her own fireside, and many excellent hints of distrust and economy to Lady Bertram and Edmund to detail, whereby a most considerable saving had always arisen, and more than one bad servant been detected.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

With the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the girl’s short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love himself.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Do you care for taters?” said the waiter, with an insinuating smile, and his head on one side.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“You never do anything else, except your work. You are always insinuating. You revel in it. And when you talk of Mr. Murdstone's good intentions—”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Really, Master Copperfield, he said, —I should say Mister, but I know you'll excuse the abit I've got into—you're so insinuating, that you draw me like a corkscrew!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Jane Murdstone,” said her brother, “be silent! How dare you to insinuate that you don't know my character better than your words imply?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We turned back, on my humbly insinuating that it might be useful to me hereafter; and he told the clerk that the carrier had instructions to call for it at noon.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Haven't you heard her say, over and over again, that on this account she wished to spare me a great deal of trouble, which she thinks I am not suited for, and which I really don't know myself that I AM suited for; and isn't she up early and late, and going to and fro continually—and doesn't she do all sorts of things, and grope into all sorts of places, coal-holes and pantries and I don't know where, that can't be very agreeable—and do you mean to insinuate that there is not a sort of devotion in that?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)