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🌩️ Divided shape 🐍 Deceitful speech 💻 Copied project
forked

forked

9.4
Saying things that hide the truth to trick people
  • adjective
  • /fɔrkəd/
  • Informal
translation icon : engañoso
  • Nicole Ward Jouve's White Woman Speaks with Forked Tongue: Criticism as Autobiography analyzes the links between criticism and autobiography in a variety of writers.

Examples

  • He made his voice enormously deep, "Big Chief Running Nose Speaks with Forked Tongue."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Over 100 years ago, the Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, after dealing with government lawyers, proclaimed with eloquent simplicity and clarity, "Whiteman Speak with Forked Tongue."

    Blog text (19)

  • His forked promises left everyone feeling confused and betrayed.

  • The politician's forked statements created doubt about his true intentions.

  • After hearing her forked comments, I wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

Synonyms

misleading
vsforked
148 4.4

Giving a wrong idea that makes people believe false things

often adds deliberate ambiguity or dishonest intent beyond just causing wrong impressions
deceptive
vsforked
62 5.3

Appearing true but making someone believe something that is not true

leans more on ambiguous wording and intent rather than only false impressions
deceitful
vsforked
31 5.0

Acting in a dishonest way to make people believe something untrue

often uses ambiguity rather than open dishonest action to mislead
specious
vsforked
  • Formal
15 8.7

Appearing true but actually wrong

is less about appearing true and more about ambiguity or direct deceit
diversionary
vsforked
8 7.7

That distracts people from the main issue

focuses more on ambiguous speech or dishonest intention than simple distraction
obfuscatory
vsforked
  • Formal
1 9.3

Making something hard to understand on purpose to hide the truth

aims to mislead by ambiguity or dishonest intent rather than only obscure
weasel-worded
vsforked
  • Literature
9.6

Unclear words that avoid saying something directly

includes deliberate ambiguity plus clear intent to mislead

Antonyms

clear
∞ 1.0

Easy to understand and not confusing

honest
∞ 1.0

Truthful and fair, not cheating or lying

Idioms

to speak with a forked tongue
  • Informal
1 9.6

Say things that are not true to trick others

Compounds

forked tongue
  • Informal
2 8.7

Speech that says one thing but means another to trick people

forked lightning
6.7

A bright flash of lightning with branches that split from the main line

How Deceptive

treacherous
38 7.1
duplicitous
15 8.9
deceptive
62 5.3
forked
  • Informal
9.4
misleading
148 4.4

Surface Forms

forked positive

Morphology

forked = fork (semi-transparent) = fork + ed

The adjective comes from the image of something 'split' or 'forked' (as in 'forked tongue') but the deceitful/ambiguous sense is an idiomatic/figurative extension not fully predictable from the shape alone.

Etymology

Forked also appears in the phrase forked tongue and a helpful way to remember this is to think of a tongue split like a fork, able to give two different messages at once. That's why forked can mean 'deceitful' or two-faced when used about speech or intention.