prevaricate
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
prevaricate
- /pɹɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/ UK
- /pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt/ US
- /pɹɪˈvɛɹɪkeɪt/ US
Where it comes from
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).
verb prevaricates · prevaricating · prevaricated · prævaricate
- To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
- To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate. The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
- To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
- To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
Similar: beat about the bush, beat around the bush, equivocate, fabricate, fib, lie, tergiversate
