prevaricate
1prevaricate — prevaricate, procrastinate Because their meanings, or at least the implications of their meanings, overlap, these two words are often confused. To prevaricate (derived from Latin praevaricari meaning literally ‘to walk crookedly’) is ‘to speak or …
2Prevaricate — Pre*var i*cate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Prevaricated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Prevaricating}.] [L. praevaricatus, p. p. of praevaricari to walk crookedly, to collude; prae before + varicare to straddle, fr. varicus straddling, varus bent. See {Varicose}.] …
3prevaricate — I verb be dishonest, be evasive, be untruthful, bear false witness, beg the question, belie, conceal the truth, concoct, counterfeit, deceive, defraud, delude, deviate, deviate from the truth, dissemble, dissimulate, distort, dodge, dupe, elude,… …
4prevaricate — [pri var′i kāt΄] vi. prevaricated, prevaricating [< L praevaricatus, pp. of praevaricari, to prevaricate, lit., to walk crookedly < prae , before + varicare, to straddle < varicus, straddling < varus, bent apart < IE base * wa > …
5Prevaricate — Pre*var i*cate, v. t. To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster] …
6prevaricate — 1580s, to transgress, from L. praevaricari to make a sham accusation, deviate, lit. walk crookedly; in Church L., to transgress (see PREVARICATION (Cf. prevarication)). Meaning to speak evasively is from 1630s. Related: Prevaricated;… …
7prevaricate — [v] deceive; stretch the truth beat around the bush*, beg the question*, belie, cavil, con, distort, dodge, equivocate, evade, exaggerate, fabricate, falsify, fib, garble, hedge, invent, jive*, lie*, misrepresent, misspeak, palter, phony up*, put …
8prevaricate — ► VERB ▪ avoid giving a direct answer when asked a question. DERIVATIVES prevarication noun prevaricator noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «transgress»: from Latin praevaricari walk crookedly, deviate …
9prevaricate — verb /prɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt,pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt,pɹɪˈvɛɹɪkeɪt/ a) To shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour; to evade the truth; to waffle or be (intentionally) ambiguous. The people saw the politician prevaricate every day. b) To behave in an evasive way… …
10prevaricate — [[t]prɪvæ̱rɪkeɪt[/t]] prevaricates, prevaricating, prevaricated VERB If you prevaricate, you avoid giving a direct answer or making a firm decision. British ministers continued to prevaricate. Derived words: prevarication… …
