non-denial denial

plural non-denial denials

1. idiomaticA statement which appears to deny that something is true, but which, when examined carefully, can be seen to have used diversion, bluster, or ambiguity to avoid making a clear, direct denial.

   "If you print that, I'll sue you." A non-denial denial if ever there was one.

   2000 January 13, Julia Hartley-Brewer, “Diary”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 11 Jun 2013

   3 more examples

   In a classic non-denial denial, Microsoft said that such a takeover might endanger its $200 million MSNBC network partnership.

   1997 July 1, Taran Provost, “Gates: I Wasn't Even on the Block”, in Time

   In Washington, there is no higher art form than the non-denial denial, in which politicians try to rebut a storyline without quite denying the specifics.

   2006 October 1, David E. Sanger, “The Basics; Did I Say That? No, Not Really, Maybe, Sort Of”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Jun 2013

   [H]e has issued a firm non-denial denial. “I didn’t write it,” he told The New York Times. “But if I had written it, I would be saying I didn’t write it.”

   2011 January 19, Vit Wagner, “Anonymous Obama novel stirs Washington”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 11 Jun 2013