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) To behave in an evasive way such as to delay action; to procrastinate.
   • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Book 4, ch 1:

     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.

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

Derived terms

• prevarication
• prevaricator

Translations

To shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour, to equivocate

Finnish: vältellä (fi) Georgian: მიკიბვ-მოკიბვა (ka)

Hungarian: köntörfalaz (hu), kertel (hu) Italian: prevaricare (it)

To collude

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