evasive
[ih-vey-siv]
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Origin of evasive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for evasiveness
Contemporary Examples
Some on the American right, however, exhibit none of Obama's evasiveness.
His evasiveness has fueled Internet speculation that Rumsfeld may indeed be a lizard.
The responses were telling in their casuistry, their amorality, their evasiveness.
After years of evasiveness by the GOP, finally some frank talk about deficits from Obama and even from Hillary in China.
Historical Examples
He took care of Poseidon's sea-calves and was famous for his evasiveness.
Louise caught the hollowness, the evasiveness, of the explanation.
The EddyClarence L. Cullen
That the pair had some deeply-laid scheme on hand I knew from their evasiveness.
The Secrets of PotsdamWilliam Le Queux
He talked freely, and all evidence of suspiciousness or evasiveness was absent.
Studies in Forensic PsychiatryBernard Glueck
The act of speaking in a round about way; particularly a studied indirectness or evasiveness of speech.
OrthographyElmer W. Cavins
evasive
- tending or seeking to evade; avoiding the issue; not straightforward
- avoiding or seeking to avoid trouble or difficultiesto take evasive action
- hard to catch or obtain; elusive
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for evasiveness
evasive
adj.
1725, from French évasif, from Latin evas-, past participle stem of evadere (see evasion). Related: Evasively; evasiveness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper