prevaricate

English

WOTD – 5 December 2006

Alternative forms

• prævaricate (archaic)

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).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/
• (US) 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 speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.

   Synonyms: equivocate, waffle, evade

   Antonym: direct

   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
• prevaricatingly
• prevarication
• prevaricator
• unprevaricating

Translations

deviate, transgress

Bulgarian: извъртам (bg) (izvǎrtam) Dutch: afwijken (nl), terugkrabbelen (nl) French: prévariquer (fr) Maori: tītahataha Polish: kręcić (pl) impf, lawirować (pl) impf Portuguese: prevaricar (pt)

shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour, to equivocate

Chinese: Mandarin: 搪塞 (zh) (tángsè) Dutch: rond de pot draaien (nl) Finnish: vältellä (fi) French: éluder (fr), se dérober (fr), être/rester évasif Georgian: მიკიბვ-მოკიბვა (miḳibv-moḳibva) German: ausweichen (de), Ausflüchte machen Hungarian: köntörfalaz (hu), kertel (hu) Italian: essere evasivo, equivocare (it) Kazakh: бұлтақтау (būltaqtau) Maori: tītahataha Mongolian: Cyrillic: булзах (mn) (bulzax) Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠯᠵᠠᠬᠤ (bulǰaqu) Polish: wykręcać się od odpowiedzi impf, wykręcić się od odpowiedzi pf Russian: уви́ливать (ru) (uvílivatʹ)

(law) collude

French: prévariquer (fr) Polish: zmawiać się impf, zmówić się pf

See also

• lie

References

• “prevaricate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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

Spanish

Verb

prevaricate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of prevaricar combined with te