# Weasel word
A **weasel word** is a word or phrase that creates the impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague, ambiguous, or unsupported claim has been communicated. Merriam-Webster defines it as a word used to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position[1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word), and [Dictionary.com](https://www.edgepedia.org/dictionary-com) as a word that tempers the forthrightness of a statement or makes one's views equivocal, misleading, or confusing[2](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/weasel-word). The term is used as a criticism of writing and speech in politics, advertising, journalism, and science.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | A word used to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position[1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word) |
| First known use | 1900, in Stewart Chaplin's short story "The Stained-Glass Political Platform" (Century Magazine, June 1900)[1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word) • [3](https://politicaldictionary.com/words/weasel-words/) |
| Popularizer | Theodore Roosevelt, who expanded the meaning; example: using "voluntary" to qualify "universal" sucks the meaning out of "universal"[3](https://politicaldictionary.com/words/weasel-words/) |
| Distinction from hedging | Weasel words convey a confidence the author does not have; hedging signals that the author is unsure[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4) |
| Typical forms | Obscure numerical terms ("many people"), subjectless passive voice ("it has been observed"), and weakening adverbs ("it perhaps indicates")[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4) |
| Documented settings | Advertising (527 weasel words found in 157 advertisements)[5](https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/29605/), political speeches[6](https://journalppw.com/index.php/jppw/article/view/730), and scientific writing[7](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/) |
## Origin
The term first appeared in "The Stained-Glass Political Platform", a short story by Stewart Chaplin printed in Century Magazine in June 1900[3](https://politicaldictionary.com/words/weasel-words/). Merriam-Webster records 1900 as the first known use[1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word), and Dictionary.com dates the Americanism to 1895–1900[2](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/weasel-word). Chaplin's explanation supplies the metaphor: "weasel words are words that suck all the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell"[7](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/). The idiom alludes to the folk belief, repeated in weasel-lore, that a weasel can suck the contents out of an egg while leaving the shell superficially intact; weasels cannot in fact do this, but the belief inspired the figurative use[1](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word).
President [Theodore Roosevelt](https://www.edgepedia.org/theodore-roosevelt) helped popularize the term and expanded its meaning slightly. In his usage, when the word "voluntary" qualifies the word "universal", it is a weasel word that has sucked all the meaning out of "universal"[3](https://politicaldictionary.com/words/weasel-words/).
## Forms and classification
Swe Wynn and Usanavasin (2018) define three categories of weaselling: using obscure numerical terms such as "many people" or "some experts"; structuring sentences in the passive voice without defining a subject, as in "it has been observed" or "it was reported"; and inserting adverbs that weaken the statement, such as "it perhaps indicates" or "it potentially increases"[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4). A related analysis distinguishes words of action, words of comparison, words of possibility, and words of illusion of strength; in a study of 157 advertisements, 527 weasel words were identified, with action words the most common[5](https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/29605/).
Typical examples collected in a critique of scientific writing include "the evidence suggests that", "rates are generally high", "various mechanisms might be the cause of", and "it is likely that the experimental group"[7](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/). In journalism, phrases such as "experts say" or "some people say" attribute a claim to an unnamed authority; Wikinews's style guide treats such wording as spreading hearsay or couching personal opinion in vague, indirect syntax, and recommends either naming a source or converting the opinion into concrete facts[8](https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews%3AAvoid_weasel_words).
## Weasel words versus hedging
The two terms are related and both produce ambiguity, but writers on the subject distinguish them. Alwan (2022) differentiates them by the confidence a statement suggests: with weasel words, the author conveys certainty in a claim while not actually being sure, whereas hedging indicates the author is unsure[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4). Alwan and Ott (2018) also distinguish them by intention, treating weasel words as intentionally misleading, aimed at presenting the author's opinion as fact[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4).
Hedging itself is an established linguistic concept, introduced by [George Lakoff](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-lakoff) in 1972 in work on fuzzy concepts, and in academic writing it serves nuanced communicative purposes, limiting or qualifying meaning rather than making bare assertions[9](https://doi.org/doi%3A10.1515/opli-2022-0229). A study of hedging in research articles found that underuse can lead to overstatement while overuse can raise suspicion about the credibility of statements, so a moderate and balanced use is presented as necessary for credibility[10](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1201945).
## Weasel words in science
A 2018 paper in JSLS by Douglas E. Ott, a physician and engineer at [Mercer University](https://www.edgepedia.org/mercer-university), argues that scientific writing has become littered with weasel words that hedge, cause ambiguity, and introduce conjecture and inference as reliance, which he calls a travesty of intellectual honesty[7](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/). On his account, conditional hedging or weasel words create a façade that is imprecise, vague, and elusive, and misleading statements initiate a mental mechanism in which inference, insinuation, and innuendo impersonate fact[7](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/).
Researchers in ethology, reviewing the problem for the behavioral sciences, argue that weaselling can also arise without intent: from incorrect or exaggerated interpretation of the literature, imprecise paraphrasing, poor argumentation skills, or going along with tradition[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4). Whether intentional or not, they write, the outcome is the same: the content becomes misleading to the reader, especially a non-expert[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4).
One documented quantitative example concerns the word "trend" applied to p values just above 0.05, which are non-significant. In the anaesthesia literature of three journals, 3.4% of authors applied the word in a biased context in 2010, according to Gibbs and Gibbs (2015); the reviewers note that a non-significant p can have any value between 0.51 and 1, and that adding "trend" does not help, recommending instead that the exact p value and effect size be reported[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4).
## Weasel words and machine-generated text
Large language models such as ChatGPT present a special case: the artificial texts they generate contain many weasel words or phrases, although the system has no intention at all[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4). This supports the view of the ethology reviewers that intention need not be the focus; the phenomenon itself, and its effect on the reader, is what matters[4](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4).
## Remedies
Style guidance converges on replacing vague attribution with specifics. Wikinews advises naming a source for the opinion or changing opinionated language to concrete facts[8](https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews%3AAvoid_weasel_words). The CNA Objective Writing Guide instructs analysts to use concrete facts and statistics drawn from authoritative sources rather than vague words such as "several" or "many"[11](https://www.cna.org/our-media/indepth/2025/01/lessons-from-the-cna-objective-language-guide). A practical editing test is to delete the weasel word and see whether the sentence is still true; if "Donald Trump is frequently disdainful of media figures" survives deletion of "frequently", the qualifier was doing no work[12](https://bernoff.com/blog/how-to-fix-weasel-words).
## References
1. [Weasel word, Merriam-Webster Dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weasel%20word)
2. [Weasel word, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/weasel-word)
3. [Weasel Words, Political Dictionary](https://politicaldictionary.com/words/weasel-words/)
4. [Roszik Sára and Miklósi Ádám (2025). Reasons to avoid using weasel words in ethology. Biologia Futura 76, 181–192.](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-025-00272-4)
5. [Ariffin, Kamisah, et al. The use of weasel words as disclaimers in superiority claims, UiTM Institutional Repository](https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/29605/)
6. [Alwan, Mohammad Essa (2022). An investigation of weasel words in selected political speeches. Journal of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing 6(1).](https://journalppw.com/index.php/jppw/article/view/730)
7. [Ott, Douglas E. (2018). Hedging, Weasel Words, and Truthiness in Scientific Writing. JSLS 22(4).](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6311890/)
8. [Wikinews: Avoid weasel words](https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews%3AAvoid_weasel_words)
9. [Hedging with modal auxiliary verbs in scientific discourse, Open Linguistics](https://doi.org/doi%3A10.1515/opli-2022-0229)
10. [Hedging and Academic Writing: An Analysis of Lexical Hedges, Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies (2018), ERIC EJ1201945](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1201945)
11. [Lessons from the CNA Objective Writing Guide, CNA](https://www.cna.org/our-media/indepth/2025/01/lessons-from-the-cna-objective-language-guide)
12. [Bernoff, Josh. How to fix weasel words](https://bernoff.com/blog/how-to-fix-weasel-words)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Periodicals and publishing › Journalism › Journalism practice, genres, and ethics › News formats, style, and journalese*
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