Quito novice with a surprising use of doubtful words (12)
I believe the answer is:
equivocation
'use of doubtful words' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'quito novice with a surprising' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'surprising' indicates an anagram.
'quito'+'novice'+'a'='quitonovicea'
'quitonovicea' is an anagram of 'EQUIVOCATION'.
(Other definitions for equivocation that I've seen before include "Evasiveness" , "Use of doubtful words" , "Use of intentionally vague language" , "Use of deliberately vague language" , "A beating about the bush" .)