prevaricate
verbUK /pɹɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/ · US /pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin praevāricātus, perfect active participle of praevāricor (“to walk crookedly; to play a false or double part”), from prae- + vāricō (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from vāricus (“with feet spread apart”); see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
1
Obsolete To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
2
To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
- The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
- At the moment of her departure he could prevaricate no longer, and, confessing to the gambling, told her the truth as far as he knew it—that the guineas had been won by Wildeve.1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, chapter 1, in The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
1 more example
- [Boris Johnson] went: “You’re right, let’s get on with it. Let’s make the decision.” It took him another hour of prevaricating to reach the decision. He went outside, and I think that announcement changed the course of history.2026 June 23, Will Walden, quotee, “‘Geldof started flicking Vs at Farage’: the story of the Brexit campaign, told by those with a front-row seat”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
3
Law To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
- Synonyms
- beat about the bush, beat around the bush, equivocate, fabricate, fib, lie, tergiversate
- Derived terms
- prevaricatest, prevaricatingly, prevarication, prevaricator, unprevaricating
- Related terms
- lie