prevaricate

English

WOTD – 5 December 2006    

Alternative forms

• prævaricate (archaic)

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin praevāricārī, from prae- with vāricāre, from vārus, from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend apart”) (the root of ‘various’).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /prɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/
• (US) IPA: /pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt/, /pɹɪˈvɛɹɪkeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

prevaricate (third-person singular simple present prevaricates, present participle prevaricating, simple past and past participle prevaricated)

1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
2. (intransitive) 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.

3. (intransitive, law) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.

Derived terms

• prevarication
• prevaricator

Translations

deviate, transgress

• Dutch: afwijken (nl), terugkrabbelen (nl)
• French: prévariquer (fr)

shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour, to equivocate

• Dutch: rond de pot draaien (nl)
• Finnish: vältellä (fi)
• French: éluder (fr), se dérober (fr), être/rester évasif
• Georgian: მიკიბვ-მოკიბვა (ka) (mikibv-mokibva)

• Hungarian: köntörfalaz (hu), kertel (hu)
• Italian: prevaricare (it)
• Russian: увиливать (ru) (uvilivatʹ)

(law) collude

• French: prévariquer (fr)

See also

• lie

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Italian

Verb

prevaricate

1. second-person plural present indicative of prevaricare
2. second-person plural imperative of prevaricare
3. Feminine plural of prevaricato