prevarication

See also: prévarication

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praevāricātiō (“collusion with an opponent; duplicity, deceit; violation of duty, transgression”, literally “stepping out of line”), from praevāricor (“to walk crookedly; go astray; transgress”) + -tās. The virtually obsolete sense of deviation or transgression may have been influenced by an earlier stage of borrowing via Middle English prevaricacioun, prevaricacion (“deviation from the law; transgression”) from Anglo-Norman prevaricaciun (“transgression, violation of correct conduct”).

Pronunciation

• (non-merged vowel) enPR: prĭ-văr′ĭ-kā′shən, IPA^(key): /pɹɪˌvæɹ.ɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (merged vowel) enPR: prĭ-văr′ə-kā′shən, IPA^(key): /pɹɪˌvæɹ.əˈkeɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

prevarication (countable and uncountable, plural prevarications)

1. Evasion of the truth.

   Synonyms: deceit, evasiveness

   Prevarication became the order of the day in his government while truth was a stranger in those halls.

   • 1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 291:

     The trumpet—vvill it ſound? the curtain riſe? And ſhow th' auguſt tribunal of the ſkies, / VVhere no prevarication ſhall avail, / VVhere eloquence and artifice ſhall fail, […]

   • 1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XIII, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 239:

     The prevarication and white lies which a mind that keeps itself ambitiously pure is as uneasy under as a great artist under the false touches that no eye detects but his own, are worn as lightly as mere trimmings when once the actions have become a lie.

   • 2012 October 6, “Charlemagne: Mysterious Mariano”, in The Economist‎:

     Mr Rajoy frustrates many with his prevarication over a fresh euro-zone bail-out, which now comes with a conditional promise from the European Central Bank (ECB) to help bring down Spain’s stifling borrowing costs.

2. (archaic, now rare) Deviation from what is right or correct.

   Synonyms: transgression, perversion

3. A secret abuse in the exercise of a public office.
4. (Ancient Rome, law, historical) The collusion of an informer with the defendant, for the purpose of making a sham prosecution.
5. (law) A false or deceitful seeming to undertake a thing for the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
   • 1628, Robert Le Grys, Argenis, translation of original by John Barclay:

     If it shall appeare, that they haue forfeited their Faith, or wronged their Client by preuarication.

Related terms

• prevaricate
• prevaricator

Translations

deviation from what is right or correct

Bulgarian: шикалкавене (bg) n (šikalkavene) Dutch: overtreding (nl) French: prévarication (fr) f German: Verfehlung (de) f, Übertretung f, Verstoß (de) m Polish: wykręt (pl) m, lawirowanie (pl) n Spanish: prevaricación (es) f

deceit, evasiveness

Bulgarian: извъртане (bg) n (izvǎrtane) Dutch: uitvlucht (nl) m, draaierij (nl) m French: subterfuge (fr) m, faux-fuyant (fr) m, échappatoire (fr) f, dérobade (fr) f German: Ausflucht (de) m, Tatsachenverdrehung f, Wahrheitsverzerrung f Norwegian: utflukt m Ottoman Turkish: یالان (yalan) Plautdietsch: Jeheichel n Polish: matactwo (pl) n, krętactwo (pl) n

See also

• lie
• equivocate

References

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

Further reading

• Prevarication in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “prevarication”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prevarication”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 4716, column 2.
• “prevarication”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “prevarication, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “prevarication”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “prevarication”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “prēvāricāciǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• prevaricaciun on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Middle French

Noun

prevarication f (plural prevarications)

1. prevarication (deviation from what is right)

Descendants

• → English: prevarication
• French: prévarication