Meanings
plural innuendoes · plural innuendos · plural innuendis · alternative inuendo
- countableuncountableA derogatory hint or reference to, or (often sexual) insinuation about, a person or thing.
She made a devious innuendo about her opponent, who was embarrassed.
3 more examples
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.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 273From 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.
1981 February 14, Roger Moody, “Retrial for PIE Defendants”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 4“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.
2025 December 20, Richard Fausset, Ken Bensinger, quoting Blake Neff, “Turning Point’s Annual Gathering Turns Into a Gripefest”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC - countableuncountableA remark that is suggestive of something sexual without stating it explicitly.
We were both quite good friends and apart from the playful innuendos about having an affair together we never really did anything.
1995, Bunmi Sofola, Yours Sincerely: Selected Writings of Bunmi Sofola3 more examples
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.
1998, Anna Banks, Stephen P. Banks, Fiction and Social Research: By Ice Or Fire, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 43Donoghue 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.
2012 January 15, Paulina Palmer, The Queer Uncanny: New Perspectives on the Gothic, University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 65This is kalaburi, a joking banter that includes stories, jokes, wordplays (puns and double entendres, which are often sexual), and playful innuendo.
2016 September 29, Jane K. Cowan, Dance and the Body Politic in Northern Greece, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 157 - countableuncountablehuman sciencesA rhetorical device with an omitted but obvious conclusion, made to increase the force of an argument.
present singular third person innuendos · participle present innuendoing · participle past innuendoed · past innuendoed · alternative inuendo
- transitivelawTo interpret (something libellous or slanderous) in terms of what was implied.
A statement that a person's presence at a certain club may be "irksome," may be innuendoed that the person is of such bad character as not to be a fit associate with honourable men.
1894, Frank Towers Cooper, A Handbook of the Law of Defamation and Verbal Injury, page 119
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latininnuendō“by nodding”
- Englishinnuendo
From the Latin innuendō (“by nodding”), ablative singular form of innuendum (“a nodding”), gerund of innuō (“to give a nod”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَلْمِيح
- تَلْمِيح (talmīḥ)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Bulgarian инсинуация
- инсинуация (insinuacija)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Catalan insinuació, indirecta
- insinuacióa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- indirectaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Chinese Mandarin 影射
- 影射 (yǐng shè)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Czech narážka
- narážkaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Danish hentydning, insinuation
- hentydninga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- insinuationa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- antydninga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Dutch insinuatie
- insinuatiea derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Finnish vihjaus
- vihjausa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
French insinuation, sous-entendu
- insinuationa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- sous-entendua derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
German Anspielung, Innuendo
- Anspielunga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- Innuendoa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Greek υπονοούμενο, υπαινιγμός
- υπονοούμενο (yponooúmeno)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- υπαινιγμός (ypainigmós)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Hebrew רמיזה
- רמיזה (remiza)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Hungarian célzás, utalás
- célzása derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- utalása derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Italian insinuazione, allusione
- insinuazionea derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- allusionea derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Japanese 当て付けがましい
- 当て付けがましい (atetsukegamashii)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Norwegian insinuasjon
- insinuasjona derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Norwegian Bokmål hentydning, antydning
- hentydninga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- antydninga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Polish insynuacja
- insynuacjaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Portuguese insinuação, indireta
- insinuaçãoa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- indiretaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Russian намёк
- намёк (namjók)a derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Slovak narážka, poznámka
- narážkaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- poznámkaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Spanish indirecta, innuendo
- indirectaa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- innuendoa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- inuendoa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Swedish anspelning, allusion
- anspelninga derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- allusiona derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- insinuationa derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Turkish kinaye, gönderme
- kinayea derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
- göndermea derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing, an implication or insinuation
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with innuendo
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
innuendo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innuendo
“innuendo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innuendo. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “innuendo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innuendo.
Source: innuendo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.