From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mealy-mouthed \Meal"y-mouthed'\, adjective Using soft words; not straightforward; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; speaking deviously; unwilling to tell the truth in plain language. Opposite of {frank} or {blunt}. ''Mealy-mouthed philanthropies.'' --Tennyson.
She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain. --L'Estrange. -- {Meal"y-mouth'ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy; "a mealymouthed politician" [syn: {mealymouthed}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy; "a mealymouthed politician" [syn: {mealy-mouthed}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
86 Moby Thesaurus words for "mealymouthed": Pecksniffian, Tartuffian, Tartuffish, abject, adulatory, affected, backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blarneying, bootlicking, buttery, cajoling, canting, casuistic, complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching, dishonest, disingenuous, empty, fair-spoken, false, fawning, fine-spoken, flattering, footlicking, fulsome, goody, goody-goody, groveling, gushing, hangdog, holier-than-thou, hollow, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, hypocritic, hypocritical, ingratiating, insincere, insinuating, jesuitic, obeisant, obsequious, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, parasitic, pharisaic, pharisean, pietistic, pious, prostrate, sanctified, sanctimonious, self-righteous, simon-pure, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soapy, soft-soaping, sponging, sycophantic, timeserving, toadeating, toadying, toadyish, tongue in cheek, truckling, uncandid, unctuous, unfrank, unserious, wheedling
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
19 Moby Thesaurus words for "mealy-mouthed": ambiguous, artful, circumlocutory, deceitful, equivocal, equivocating, euphemistic, hesitant, hypocritical, indirect, mincing, oily, periphrastic, reluctant, reticent, roundabout, slick, unctuous, vague
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