(n.) A figure in which a harts or indelicate word or expression is softened; a way of describing an offensive thing by an inoffensive expression; a mild name for something disagreeable.
Example Sentences:
(1) 9.41pm BST Dodgers 0 - Cardinals 0, bottom of the 2nd The "demeaning euphemism for overweight" Matt Adams lines out to Adrian Gonzalez for the second out of the inning.
(2) General Bantz Craddock, who instituted the restraint chair and twice-daily intubation in 2006 , said that he designed it to make hunger-striking less " convenient " – a not terribly subtle euphemism for more painful – and that "pretty soon [after these practices were introduced]…they decided it wasn’t worth it."
(3) To avoid discussing the hunger strike and its rationale, they introduced a euphemism when asked about it: “long-term non-religious fasting”.
(4) I liked working there in the "people department" (a new euphemism for the women's section in the age of feminism), since it offered handy distractions from the horror of the blank page.
(5) Craving boldness is too often a euphemism for wishing Labour's predicament were something other than what it is; that there was a way to promise immediate improvement in everyone's lives without giving them money.
(6) She's both a "certain type of woman" (divorced single mothers must only be referred to in euphemism) and an object of desire.
(7) On Tuesday Khamenei used the expression "heroic leniency", which is being interpreted as a euphemism for a softer stance on foreign policy.
(8) And they gave us the word “euphemism” in the first place – “to use a favourable word in place of an inauspicious one”.
(9) In fact, the word 'torture' does not appear anywhere, nor even the preferred diplomatic euphemism, 'ill-treatment'.
(10) There were euphemisms (“an incident”, “an inappropriate action on my part”); there were vague and reassuring references to the woman (“she has accepted my apology”); and there were mind-your-own-business obfuscations (“a deeply personal business”).
(11) Political rhetoric now as in Orwell's day exploits not only euphemism ("austerity") but dysphemism ("skivers") and loaded metaphor ("fiscal cliff"): in our time, weaponised soundbites are deliberately engineered to smuggle the greatest amount of persuasion into the smallest space, to be virally replicated on rolling news.
(12) There is a serious risk that, sooner rather than later, “self-employment” will simply be a euphemism for regular work in which the employee is unprotected by minimum-wage legislation or any other workplace entitlements.
(13) The NSC will also be put in charge of a £1.3bn prosperity fund that will focus on issues like “improving the business climate” – a term too often used as a euphemism for the promotion of ideologically-driven policies like the privatisation of public services .
(14) Labelling Matters , a campaign set up by Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA among others, is calling for labels that discard euphemisms in favour, for instance, of “intensive indoor” for pork from pigs that never go outside and “permanently housed” for dairy cows that never graze in fields.
(15) According to state media, Ji Jianye is being investigated for "severe violations of discipline and law" – a euphemism for embezzlement, bribery and other official abuses.
(16) But what this kind of legislation would do is promote “information-sharing” – a euphemism for cutting a giant hole in our privacy laws that allow companies like Sony or 20th Century Fox (or Google or Facebook) to hand over all sorts of our personal information to the government with no legal process whatsoever.
(17) Work was a widely used euphemism for killing during the genocide.
(18) "Dressing for pleasure" and "fun fashion" get a bad rap, especially for women in their middle age, as it is generally assumed that this is a euphemism for women dressing like clowns and not realising that, at their age (huff, huff), they should be wearing beige cashmere.
(19) Records of military and congressional investigations into the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre illustrate that "scalping" and other terms were euphemisms for Colorado Volunteers mutilating Cheyenne people and wearing and displaying genitalia, fetuses, and other "battle trophies".
(20) Apart from using the words "organic" as a euphemism for "traditional", his ideas seem to have matured little in the 25 years.
Fanny
Definition:
Example Sentences:
(1) Last week we had a very funny conversation about how we both enjoy the term ‘fannying about’.
(2) The two main housing agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been in limbo for four years and are desperately in need of reform that should start this fall, but there is scant attention to the problem.
(3) 21 min: Vittek races down the inside right channel to win a ball he should never have been allowed to win - Criscito was fannying around - and wins a corner.
(4) "The Great Barrier Reef is definitely at a crossroad and decisions that will be taken over the next one, two, three years might potentially be crucial for the long-term conservation [of the reef]," said Fanny Douvere, from Unesco's World Heritage marine programme.
(5) Romney fielded former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and a leading Florida politician, Will Weatherford, to hold a phone-conference with reporters over Gingrich's time with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
(6) The FHFA lawsuit, which follows a subpoena issued to the banks last year, demands that the banks pay compensation to cover some of the $30bn (£18.5bn) Fannie and Freddie lost on mortgage-backed securities.
(7) Mortgage firm sues over Libor US mortgage finance company Fannie Mae sued nine of the world's largest banks yesterday, including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, accusing them of colluding to manipulate interest rates and seeking more than $800m of damages.
(8) It has moments of snort-out-loud laughter (the paddle steamer named the Wonderful Fanny, the Jane Austen vignette – see below).
(9) Opposition whip and member for Fannie Bay, Michael Gunner, will run against Lawrie, who he claims has lost credibility after the supreme court found she sought to undermine an inquiry into her controversial granting of a rent-free lease to unions.
(10) In the recent Face the Nation interview, Gingrich was asked about civil charges that had recently been brought by top financial watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission against Fannie and Freddie executives alleging they misinformed people about the risky subprime loans that mortgage giants held when the housing bubble burst.
(11) It began with four nervous girls writing anonymous poetry and has swelled to more than 100 members calling themselves the #FDL – the female or "fanny" defence league – which has made films, a music video and met Gove.
(12) It was a strange purchase considering that Cano is not the kind of player that puts a wild amount of fannies in the seats - he’s just not a marquee draw, for whatever reason, despite his tremendous talents.
(13) Since starting [the programme], all women have delivered HIV-negative babies, which has contributed to reducing child mortality in this area,” says Fanny Luwemba, a buddy volunteer in Sandi village.
(14) And I cherish stories of Fannie Lou Hamer singing “This Little Light of Mine ” just as much as I love tales of Harriet Tubman leading slaves home to the north – but tales of black exceptionalism are set in obvious contrast to the stereotypical and still resonant idea of lazy slaves and disenfranchised sharecroppers.
(15) With only three votes out of eight, Lawrie will need about 60% of the membership’s vote to retain power against challenger Michael Gunner, the member for Fannie Bay.
(16) On Thursday, Moody's threatened to downgrade the AAA ratings of government lenders Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Home Loan Banks and Federal Farm Credit Banks, illustrating the vulnerability of the already depressed housing market to a government default.
(17) In an interview with ABC on Monday morning, Gingrich denied he had ever worked as a lobbyist for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and had only been an adviser.
(18) 7.54pm GMT 9 min: Colback is in plenty of space down the left, but there's no option for him in the centre, so he checks back and fannies around awhile.
(19) We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some; and we’re Susan B Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth.
(20) From it, Schweinsteiger and Lahm fanny around for ages before the latter finally gets a cross in.