prevaricate
To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasiveTo speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
» I pushed him for a decision, but he constantly prevaricated.
dec · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 senses(intransitive)To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
ausweichen, Ausflüchte machen
уви́ливатьuvílivatʹ
(intransitive)To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
(UK)To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
(intransitive, obsolete, transitive)To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
- be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information
Examples
2 sentencesI pushed him for a decision, but he constantly prevaricated.
If we prevaricate and postpone this issue, the committee can continue to hide behind its inaction.
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Borrowed from Latin praevāricātus, perfect active participle of praevāricor (“to walk crooBorrowed 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).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
prevaricates, prevaricating, prevaricated, prevaricated| Base form | prevaricate · to prevaricate |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | prevaricates |
| Present participle | prevaricating |
| Past simple | prevaricated |
| Past participle | prevaricated |
regular · Lesson
Synonyms
10 synonyms- be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information:beat around the bushequivocatetergiversatepalter
Antonyms
1 antonymsWord family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.