Meaning of Innuendo | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A derogatory hint or reference to, or (often sexual) insinuation about, a person or thing.
2. A remark that is suggestive of something sexual without stating it explicitly.
3. A rhetorical device with an omitted, but obvious conclusion, made to increase the force of an argument.
4. Part of a pleading in cases of libel and slander, pointing out what and who was meant by the libellous matter or description.

Equivalents

Examples

“She made a devious innuendo about her opponent, who was embarrassed.”

“At dinner, a dish of stewed eels made Mr. Higgs a little pensive, and he remarked, "that the fair sex slipped through your fingers just like eels." This innuendo was, however, all that disturbed the enjoyment of the day, whose hilarity, as the newspapers say of a public dinner, was prolonged to a late hour.”

“From the start then, the prosecutor David Tudor-Price relied on innuendo to carry his case. […] his whole presentation was based on shoring-up the stereotypes.”

““The attacks and allegations from Candace [Owens] are either lies or they are innuendos thrown around with a total reckless disregard for the truth,” Mr. [Blake] Neff said.”

“We were both quite good friends and apart from the playful innuendos about having an affair together we never really did anything.”

“Later in this phone call, Frank assk Libby on a date, and she accepts the invitation. [...] A similar road toward flirtatious innuendo seems to be at work in the following example. / FIELD NOTE / Fred: Who's that beautiful girl in that great sports car?! / Shirley: ((lightheartedly)) Shut up and get in the car! / Fred: You mean I get to ride with the beautiful girl? / […] Of course, flirtatious may be touched off by more marked sexual innuendo. / FIELD NOTE / ((co-workers are working late, finishing a project)) / Velma: You know how it is when you're close but can't stop. / Sid: ((starts to give Velma a shoulder rub)) / Velma makes a comment with a possible sexual meaning, and Sid responds by initiating body contact (in a public place) to show that he hears (and follows up on) the sexual double entendre.”

“Donoghue represents the closet in Stir-Fry as a performance space of playful innuendo and verbal wit, while Hensher describes it in Kitchen Venom as an existential site to which the subject retreats in a paranoid attempt to avoid cultural and social definition.”

“This is kalaburi, a joking banter that includes stories, jokes, wordplays (puns and double entendres, which are often sexual), and playful innuendo.”

CEFR level