Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of palter.
  • noun Prevarication; dishonest bargaining, haggling.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a trivial act of lying or being deliberately unclear

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The word "paltering" I reject, as vague; as to "tentative," he must show that I was tentative in my sermons; and he has eight volumes to look through.

    Apologia pro Vita Sua John Henry Newman 1845

  • But we have 'paltering' and 'palterly'.p. 232 _Hoggerds.

    The Works of Aphra Behn Volume IV. Aphra Behn 1664

  • Byron was not above "paltering" with his readers "in

    The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 5 Poetry George Gordon Byron Byron 1806

  • Loving you, he should, in the name of common sense, be doing something that would give him the right to marry, instead of paltering around with those stories of his and with childish dreams.

    Chapter 19 2010

  • All the faltering, paltering and useless procrastinating by Hillary and her ilk have worked to delay any effective Democratic-backed change in the Iraq War, and, by extension, the reining-in of Cheney plans against Iran.

    Hillary Joining Webb For Measure Opposing War With Iran 2009

  • And yet (the fact is palpable) the Democrats are paltering.

    David Bromwich: Iran, the Decider, and the Enablers 2008

  • “And thou, old man, if thou art insensible to threats of personal danger in this matter, remember, that if thou art found paltering with us, thy punishment will perhaps be more severe than any we can inflict upon thy person.”

    Castle Dangerous 2008

  • The time speedily arrived, however, when a persistence in this reticence would have involved me in an unworthy paltering with truth.

    Essays 2007

  • What I mean by "fostering day-to-day ignorance" is paltering with the truth for no reason at all, and in such a way as to make people stupider in their real lives.

    Science goes to the movies 2007

  • What I mean by "fostering day-to-day ignorance" is paltering with the truth for no reason at all, and in such a way as to make people stupider in their real lives.

    Science goes to the movies 2007

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