fencingly

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To answer fencingly.

Is it the same as reluctant?

Thank you very much
 

Rover_KE

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No dictionaries in the OneLook dictionary search list fencingly.

You could try reluctantly.

Rover
 

riquecohen

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I wonder if there is any relationship between this neologism and "sitting on the fence." You might also try ambiguously and equivocally.
 

JMurray

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.. "guardedly"?

not a teacher
 
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Could you give us the context? (That is, some of the words

in front of those three quoted words.)


This is from the above mentioned "Dracula":

As we drove,I saw a road that looked but little used and which seemed to dip through a lit- tle winding valley. It looked so inviting that, even at the risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop--and when he had pulled up, I told him I would like to drive down that road. He made all sorts of excuses and frequently crossed him- self as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I ask- ed him various questions. He answered fencingly and repeatedly looked at his watch in protest.

Thank you for the new for me word "fetchingly".
 

TheParser

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Could you give us the context? (That is, some of the words

in front of those three quoted words.)


This is from the above mentioned "Dracula":

As we drove,I saw a road that looked but little used and which seemed to dip through a lit- tle winding valley. It looked so inviting that, even at the risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop--and when he had pulled up, I told him I would like to drive down that road. He made all sorts of excuses and frequently crossed him- self as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I ask- ed him various questions. He answered fencingly and repeatedly looked at his watch in protest.

Thank you for the new for me word "fetchingly".


***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) Thanks a million for teaching all of us a new word.

(2) And a million thanks to Birdeen's Call for locating the quotation.

(3) As the teachers always tell us learners: Context, context, context.

(4) I have deleted my first post because I do not want to clutter up the

thread with my wrong guess.
 

5jj

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As the teachers always tell us learners: Context, context, context.
It seems that we have to keep on saying it. Perhaps we should suggest to the administrators that this message appear at the top of the place where threadstarters write their first question.

I have deleted my first post because I do not want to clutter up the thread with my wrong guess.
I recall that it was a reasonable guess. There is no need to delete such wrong guesses, in my opinion. They help to make it clear what can happen if insufficient context is given.
 
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I should have checked this earlier but at least learned here new words which is good, and an idiom (sit on the fence) unless it was a joke.

The verb to fence derived from the noun fence, originally meaning "the act of defending".
WIKIPEDIA
 
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