mealy-mouthed adj : hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy; "a mealymouthed politician" [syn: mealymouthed]mealymouthed adj : hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy; "a mealymouthed politician" [syn: mealy-mouthed]

English

Etymology

Possibly from German via Martin Luther

Alternative spellings

• mealymouthed

Adjective

1. prone to speaking evasively, indirectly, or duplicitously; not forthright

   • The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature. -- Thoreau

Pecksniffian, Tartuffian, Tartuffish, abject, adulatory, affected, backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blarneying, bootlicking, buttery, cajoling, canting, casuistic, complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching, dishonest, disingenuous, empty, fair-spoken, false, fawning, fine-spoken, flattering, footlicking, fulsome, goody, goody-goody, groveling, gushing, hangdog, holier-than-thou, hollow, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, hypocritic, hypocritical, ingratiating, insincere, insinuating, jesuitic, obeisant, obsequious, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, parasitic, pharisaic, pharisean, pietistic, pious, prostrate, sanctified, sanctimonious, self-righteous, simon-pure, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soapy, soft-soaping, sponging, sycophantic, timeserving, toadeating, toadying, toadyish, tongue in cheek, truckling, uncandid, unctuous, unfrank, unserious, wheedlingambiguous, artful, circumlocutory, deceitful, equivocal, equivocating, euphemistic, hesitant, hypocritical, indirect, mincing, oily, periphrastic, reluctant, reticent, roundabout, slick, unctuous, vague