deniable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deniable
Explanation
When you’re doing something you don't necessarily want to own up to, something you may want to deny ever happened, you can try to create a cloud of uncertainty and make it deniable. Secret government agencies are adept at covering their tracks so their actions remain deniable. An intelligence bureau may work to encourage a coup, but by working through spies and operatives, the agency tries to keep its role secret and deniable. If you're addicted to late-night scenes of gluttony with chocolate-chip cookies, you may want to keep that secret deniable by creating a phantom aunt with a special fondness for cookies.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As Washington and other global powers urge restraint, the region is teetering on the edge of escalation, with drones - silent, remote and deniable - opening a new chapter in the India-Pakistan conflict.
From BBC ● May 9, 2025
Russia, they said, may believe it can sidestep the sanctions in a deniable way.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
Perhaps, some analysts suggested, it marked the demise of a nettlesome character whose usefulness — as a deniable military asset, international fixer and pro-Kremlin master of the media dark arts — had run its course.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
It's also leaderless and therefore easily deniable, allowing it to proliferate in spaces designed to be escapist and unserious.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2022
We have either incorrectly to deny things we do not understand, or we have to accept a good deal that is deniable.
From Criminal Psychology; a manual for judges, practitioners, and students by Hans Gustav Adolf Gross
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