stonewalling

American  

[stohn-waw-ling] / ˈstoʊnˌwɔ lɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of stalling, evading, or filibustering, especially to avoid revealing politically embarrassing information.

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Etymology

Origin of stonewalling

First recorded in 1875–80; stonewall + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

“In a word, yes. I’m guessing now, but I think she believes that Branwell is stonewalling, that his silence is just a stubborn refusal to talk about what happened.”

From Literature

It’s a tense moment, with Marge prying and Holly just as rudely stonewalling, but Holly, as team leader, prevails.

From Literature

She reached a producer and told her the story: her husband’s incarceration, the call from Homeland Security, the stonewalling, the courts that didn’t even exist.

From Literature

He has found that he can find out much of what he needs to know just by focusing on what he calls the Four Horsemen: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt.

From Literature

Disgust, for example, is 1, contempt is 2, anger is 7, defensiveness is 10, whining is 11, sadness is 12, stonewalling is 13, neutral is 14, and so on.

From Literature

Related Words

• ambiguous
• fleeting
• illusory
• incomprehensible
• puzzling
• slippery
• subtle
• tricky
• volatile