Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Latin
Origin: , past participle of insinuare, from sinuare 'to bend, curve'

insinuate

 verb
     
in‧sin‧u‧ate [transitive]
1 to say something which seems to mean something unpleasant without saying it openly, especially suggesting that someone is being dishonest [= imply]
insinuate that
Are you insinuating that the money was stolen?
What are you trying to insinuate?
2 formal to gradually gain someone's love, trust etc by pretending to be friendly and sincere:
He managed to insinuate his way into her affections.
insinuate yourself into something
He insinuated himself into Mehmet's confidence.
3 formal to move yourself or a part of body into a place:
a large cat insinuated itself through the gap
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary