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Glite Dictionary
🤔 To avoid deciding 🐾 To move quietly
to pussyfoot

to pussyfoot

6 8.6
To avoid making a clear decision or giving a direct answer
  • verb
  • /ˈpʌsiˌfʊt/
  • Informal
translation icon : evitar decidir
  • Can I say something? - we're pussyfooting around.
  • pussyfoot around
  • Stop pussyfooting
  • Quit pussyfooting

And so there was no, there's no pussyfooting around that stuff, right?

Examples

Synonyms

to waffle on
vsto pussyfoot
  • Informal
3 9.0

To keep changing your mind and not give a clear answer

is cautious and indirect rather than openly decisive
to shilly-shally
vsto pussyfoot
  • Informal
1 9.9

To hesitate before making a decision

is more about indecision and delay than careful indirectness
to fudge the issue
vsto pussyfoot
  • Informal
8.4

To avoid answering a question directly by being unclear

is more cautious and indirect rather than solving or confronting it
to palter
vsto pussyfoot
9.9

To speak or act to hide the truth and avoid a clear answer

is cautious and indirect rather than deliberately misleading

How Direct

to pussyfoot
  • Informal
6 8.6
to hesitate
318 2.5

Surface Forms

pussyfoot infinitive
pussyfooted past
pussyfooted past participle
pussyfooting present participle
pussyfoots third person singular

Morphology

pussyfoot = pussy + foot (semi-transparent) = pussy + foot

The sense 'avoid making a clear decision' is a metaphorical extension of 'move cautiously', so the connection to the components is inferable but requires pragmatic inference.

Etymology

Pussyfoot can also mean to avoid making a clear decision or statement by being too cautious or indirect, and it links to the same image of pussy 'cat' + foot. Like stepping softly so you do not upset anyone, to pussyfoot is to 'tip-toe' around an issue instead of speaking plainly.