Non-denial denial is a statement that seems direct, clearcut and unambiguous at first hearing, but when carefully parsed is revealed not to be a denial at all, and is thus not untruthful. It is a case in which words that are literally true are used to convey a false impression; analysis of whether or when such behavior constitutes lying is a long-standing issue in ethics. London's newspaper The Sunday Times has defined it as "an on-the-record statement, usually made by a politician, repudiating a journalist's story, but in such a way as to leave open the possibility that it is actually true."
Read more about Non-denial Denial: Origin and History of The Phrase, Types
Famous quotes containing the word denial:
“... thats what living happens to be ... the physiological denial of reverence and good manners and Christianity.... At your age ones quite old enough to know what the essence of life really is. Shamelessness, thats all; pure shamelessness.”
—Aldous Huxley (18941963)