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Synonyms

weasel out

British  

verb

  1. to go back on a commitment

  2. to evade a responsibility, esp in a despicable manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
weasel out Idioms  

  1. Back out of a situation or commitment, especially in a sneaky way. For example, I'd love to weasel out of serving on the board. This expression alludes to the stealthy hunting and nesting habits of the weasel, a small, slender-bodied predator. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

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.

“But when universities do the same thing by trying to weasel out of their contracts, it’s equally corrosive.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

Pick something that you feel like you can't weasel out of, and then you just have to do it.

From Salon • Mar. 12, 2023

Musk’s attempt to weasel out of his $44 billion deal has done predictably bad things to Twitter’s stock price, and the will-he-or-won’t-he of it all has tanked morale inside this giant, publicly traded firm.

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2022

But if you’re looking for an example of how big companies weasel out of their promises, there it is.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2021

“Trying to weasel out of it with a false confession, eh?”

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.