n. 1 barrier, enclosure, barricade, confine, wall, rampart; railing(s), palisade Maurice had a fence put up round his house 2 on the fence. undecided, indecisive, vacillating, uncommitted, uncertain, irresolute; impartial, neutral, non-partisan, unbiased, unprejudiced, unaligned, non-aligned, independent She is on the fence with regard to the issue of capital punishment
v. 3 enclose, encircle, surround, circumscribe, bound, coop, restrict, hedge, confine, fortify, protect, separate The pasture is fenced both to keep the sheep in and the wolves out Fence off this area for a garden. 4 parry, avoid, fend off, sidestep, dodge, evade, hedge, stonewall, equivocate, palter, tergiversate, vacillate, shilly-shally, quibble, cavil, beat about the bush, qualify, prevaricate, Colloq Brit waffle Awkward questions were adroitly fenced by the chairman Give a straight answer and stop fencing.