fuzzword

An intentionally vague or confusing term. Spare me the fuzzwords and just tell me what's really going on here. If you cheated on me, I want to know the truth—without fuzzwords like "sexual relations." Dylan is definitely guilty if he's using all those fuzzwords.

fuzzword

n. a confusing term usually meant to obscure meaning. (see also buzzword.) The current crop of fuzzwords contains a few that have come back from the twenties.

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References in periodicals archive

Here are a few: jobsworth, magalog, glocal, wimmin, hothousing, compassion fatigue, flak catcher, fuzzword, factoid, golden retriever (with a new spin).

Tune in to your leading linguistic indicators

Eade (Eds.), Deconstructing development discourse: Buzzwords and fuzzwords (pp.

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Transparency? Toward Meaningful Transparency in Commercial Content Moderation

Buzzwords and fuzzwords: deconstructing development discourse.

Governance and capacity to manage resilience of health systems: Towards a new conceptual framework

Eade (eds), Deconstructing Development Discourse: Buzzwords and Fuzzwords, Rugby, UK, Practical Action Publishing, 2011, pp111-122; Andrea Cornwall and Karen Brock, 'What Do Buzzwords Do for Development Policy?

DISRUPTING DISEMPOWERMENT: FEMINISM, CO-OPTATION, AND THE PRIVATISED GOVERNANCE OF GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

Issue 4-5 of the journal Development in Practice, 17, 2007 is devoted to a deconstruction of such key words and Andrea Cornwall (2007:471) in an article entitled Buzzwords and Fuzzwords: Deconstructing Development Discourse, makes the following observation " Development's buzzwords are not only passwords to funding and influence...

Communication for social change, making theory count

Cornwall A,, 'Introductory overview--buzzwords and fuzzwords: deconstructing development discourse' in Cornwall A and Eade D, eds, Deconstructing Development Discourse, Buzz Words and Fuzz Words, Oxfam, Warkwickshire (2010): 1-18.

Youth participation in local and national development in Ghana: 1620-2013

No wonder a former aide once told Fortune magazine, "She's progressive at the core." If she becomes president, we'll probably get what we got in the 1970s: a pro-government agenda clad in polyester fuzzwords.

That '70s candidate: Jimmy Carter with helmet hair

While these fuzzwords are dulling the listeners' capacity for critical thinking, the "contrasting" words are calling forth demonic images.

Tongue of Newt: the political power of language