beating around the bush
The phrase “beating around the bush” has 6 syllables: beat-ing a-round the bush
It's pronounced as /ˈbiːtɪŋ əˈraʊnd ðə bʊʃ/
What is synonym and antonym for beating around the bush?
In the thesaurus, “beating around the bush” has 27 synonyms.
Here are synonyms for beating around the bush along with examples of usage in sentences.
Synonyms for beating around the bush
- bypassing
- caviling
- cavilling
- circumventing
- dodging
- ducking
- eluding
- equivocating
- eschewing
- evading
- flip-flopping
- fudging
- hedging
- hemming and hawing
- pussyfooting
- quibbling
- shaking
- shirking
- shunning
- sidestepping
- skirting
- straddling
- straddling the fence
- tergiversating
- waffling
- weaseling
- yo-yoing
Example Sentences
- Stop beating around the bush and tell me the truth.
- He kept beating around the bush instead of answering the question directly.
- The manager grew frustrated because the employee was beating around the bush.
- Instead of beating around the bush, she explained the problem clearly.
- The lawyer accused the witness of beating around the bush during testimony.
On this page you'll find 27 synonyms or another words to beating around the bush, such as: bypassing, caviling, cavilling, circumventing, dodging, ducking, eluding.
Make sure to choose synonyms and antonyms that are appropriate for the context of the sentence.
Related Words
waffling
- alternating
- ambivalent
- beating about the bush
- beating around the bush
- betwixt and between
- blowing hot and cold
- borderline
- bypassing
- capricious
- caviling
- cavilling
- changeable
- changeful
- changing
- circumlocutory
- circumventing
- clouded
- confusing statement
- copious
- debatable
- deviating
- differing
- diffusive
- digressive
- discursive
- dithering
- divided
- dodge
- dodging
- doubtful
- doubting
- dubious
- dubitable
- ducking
- due
- dull
- eluding
- equivocal
- equivocal saying
- equivocating
- erratic
- eschewing
- evading
- evasion
- exuberant
- faltering
- fearful
- fickle
- fitful
- flexible
- flickering
- flip-flopping
- fluctuating
- fluid
- fudging
- halfhearted
- halting
- hedging
- hemming and hawing
- hesitant
- hesitating
- hot-and-cold
- iffy
- immature
- impartial
- impulsive
- in arrears
- in the middle
- incomplete
- inconclusive
- inconsistent
- inconstant
- indecisive
- indefinite
- indeterminate
- intermittent
- irregular
- irresolute
- lavish
- lengthy
- long
- long-winded
- loose
- meandering
- mercurial
- misleading statement
- misleading word
- mobile
- moot
- mutable
- neutral
- not definite
- not sure
- of two minds
- on the fence
- on-the-fence
- open
- open to question
- oscillating
- outstanding
- overdue
- owing
- palaverous
- payable
- pendent
- pending
- problematic
- problematical
- profuse
- prolix
- protean
- pussyfooting
- quibbling
- rambling
- random
- redundant
- running hot and cold
- shaking
- shifting
- shifty
- shirking
- shunning
- sidestepping
- skirting
- slippery
- spasmodic
- spineless
- straddling
- straddling the fence
- suppressio veri
- temperamental
- tentative
- tergiversating
- ticklish
- timid
- torn
- unanswered
- uncertain
- unclear
- uncommitted
- unconcluded
- undecided
- undependable
- undetermined
- unequable
- uneventful
- unfinished
- unfixed
- unpaid
- unreliable
- unresolved
- unsettled
- unsolved
- unstable
- unsteady
- unsure
- up for grabs
- up in the air
- vacillating
- vague
- variable
- varying
- verbose
- volatile
- wavering
- weak
- weak-kneed
- weaseling
- wimpy
- windy
- wishy-washy
- without guts
- wobbly
- yellow-bellied
- yo-yo
- yo-yoing
tautology
- alliteration
- attrition
- beating around the bush
- broken record
- catalogic
- chant
- chorus
- circuitousness
- circularity
- circumambages
- circumlocution
- copiosity
- copiousness
- copy
- diffuseness
- diffusion
- digressiveness
- discursiveness
- echo
- embellishment
- embroidering
- encore
- euphemism
- exaggeration
- excess
- expansiveness
- fecundity
- floridity
- garrulity
- garrulousness
- gassiness
- hyperbole
- indirectness
- ingemination
- iteracy
- iterance
- iteration
- litany
- logorrhea
- long-windedness
- loquaciousness
- loquacity
- macrology
- officialese
- overabundance
- overstatement
- paraphrase
- periodicity
- periphrase
- periphrasis
- perseveration
- pleonasm
- practice
- profusion
- prolixity
- reappearance
- recapitulation
- recital
- recurrence
- redundance
- redundancy
- rehearsal
- reiteration
- relation
- renewal
- reoccurrence
- repeat
- repetition
- repetitiousness
- repetitiveness
- replication
- report
- reproduction
- restatement
- return
- rhetoric
- rhythm
- rote
- roundabout
- staccato
- superabundance
- supererogation
- superfluity
- verbal evasion
- verbalism
- verbality
- verbiage
- verbigeration
- verbomania
- verboseness
- verbosity
- windiness
- wordage
- wordiness
weaseling
- beating about the bush
- beating around the bush
- bypassing
- caviling
- cavilling
- circumventing
- dodging
- ducking
- eluding
- equivocating
- eschewing
- evading
- flip-flopping
- fudging
- hedging
- hemming and hawing
- pussyfooting
- quibbling
- shaking
- shirking
- shunning
- sidestepping
- skirting
- straddling
- straddling the fence
- tergiversating
- waffling
- yo-yoing
tergiversating
- beating about the bush
- beating around the bush
- bypassing
- caviling
- cavilling
- circumventing
- dodging
- ducking
- eluding
- equivocating
- eschewing
- evading
- flip-flopping
- fudging
- hedging
- hemming and hawing
- pussyfooting
- quibbling
- shaking
- shirking
- shunning
- sidestepping
- skirting
- straddling
- straddling the fence
- waffling
- weaseling
- yo-yoing