INSINUATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does insinuate mean? 

• INSINUATE (verb)
  The verb INSINUATE has 2 senses:

1. introduce or insert (oneself) in a subtle manner

2. give to understand

  Familiarity information: INSINUATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSINUATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they insinuate    ... he / she / it insinuates   
Past simple: insinuated   
Past participle: insinuated   
-ing form: insinuating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Introduce or insert (oneself) in a subtle manner

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

He insinuated himself into the conversation of the people at the nearby table

Hypernyms (to "insinuate" is one way to...):

bring in; introduce (bring in a new person or object into a familiar environment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give to understand

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

adumbrate; insinuate; intimate

Context example:

I insinuated that I did not like his wife

Hypernyms (to "insinuate" is one way to...):

hint; suggest (drop a hint; intimate by a hint)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They insinuate that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

insinuation (an indirect (and usually malicious) implication)

 Context examples 

“I don't insinuate at all,” said Peggotty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"You've several full-sized drunks right there," he insinuated.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

So you needn't write touching notes and smile in that insinuating way, for it won't do a bit of good, and I won't have it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Not that I presume to insinuate, however, that some people may not think you perfection already.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

We both know that he has been profligate in every sense of the word; that he has neither integrity nor honour; that he is as false and deceitful as he is insinuating.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating grey eyes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His oily, insinuating tones, his greasy smile and his monstrous self-conceit grated on my nerves till sometimes I was all in a tremble.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And therefore I have but two methods to preserve my cow. The first is, to gain over my adversary’s lawyer with a double fee, who will then betray his client by insinuating that he hath justice on his side. The second way is for my lawyer to make my cause appear as unjust as he can, by allowing the cow to belong to my adversary: and this, if it be skilfully done, will certainly bespeak the favour of the bench.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Mr. Rushworth was eager to assure her ladyship of his acquiescence, and tried to make out something complimentary; but, between his submission to her taste, and his having always intended the same himself, with the superadded objects of professing attention to the comfort of ladies in general, and of insinuating that there was one only whom he was anxious to please, he grew puzzled, and Edmund was glad to put an end to his speech by a proposal of wine.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

My account states, that your sister's friend, the lady now staying with you, whom I have heard you mention, came to Bath with Miss Elliot and Sir Walter as long ago as September (in short when they first came themselves), and has been staying there ever since; that she is a clever, insinuating, handsome woman, poor and plausible, and altogether such in situation and manner, as to give a general idea, among Sir Walter's acquaintance, of her meaning to be Lady Elliot, and as general a surprise that Miss Elliot should be apparently, blind to the danger.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)