prevaricate

English

WOTD – 5 December 2006

Alternative forms

• prævaricate (archaic)

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin praevāricārī (“to walk crookedly, to play a false or double part”), from prae- + vāricāre (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from vārus (“deviating from the right line, bent outwards, different”), from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend apart”) (the root of various).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/
• IPA^(key): /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 deviate from the truth; 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.
4. (law, UK) To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.

Synonyms

• beat about the bush
• beat around the bush
• equivocate
• fabricate
• fib
• lie
• tergiversate

 

Derived terms

• prevaricatest
• prevarication
• prevaricator

Translations

deviate, transgress

• Bulgarian: извъртам (bg) (izvǎrtam)
• Dutch: afwijken (nl), terugkrabbelen (nl)
• French: prévariquer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: tītahataha
• Portuguese: prevaricar (pt)

shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour, to equivocate

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 搪塞 (zh) (tángsè)

• Dutch: rond de pot draaien
• Finnish: vältellä (fi)
• French: éluder (fr), se dérober (fr), être/rester évasif
• Georgian: მიკიბვ-მოკიბვა (miḳibv-moḳibva)
• German: ausweichen (de), Ausflüchte machen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: köntörfalaz (hu), kertel (hu)
• Italian: essere evasivo, equivocare
• Kazakh: бұлтақтау (būltaqtau)
• Maori: tītahataha
• Russian: уви́ливать (ru) (uvílivatʹ)

(law) collude

• French: prévariquer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• lie

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Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

prevaricate

1. inflection of prevaricare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

prevaricate f pl

1. feminine plural of prevaricato