English edit

Etymology edit

Blend of insinuation +‎ innuendo

Noun edit

insinuendo (plural insinuendos or insinuendoes)

  1. insinuation containing innuendo
    • 1888, Brander Matthews, Pen and Ink; Papers on Subjects of More Or Less Importance,, page 57:
      Truly a man may wish, “O that mine enemy would let me write his Preface! Could I not damn with faint praise and stab with sharp insinuendo?” – to use the labor-saving and much-needed word thoughtlessly invented by the sable legislator of South Carolina.
    • 1918, Eugene Wood, “Missed It - The Big Idea”, in Boys' Life, Boy Scouts of America, Inc., page 30:
      It’s sort of an insinuendo, as Matt King says, that your mind could stand a good deal of improving and not hurt it any.
    • 1964, Milton Rokeach, The three Christs of Ypsilanti: a psychological study, Knopf, page 131:
      "I don't have it," says Leon. "It was done away with because of the negative insinuendo."