prevaricate

• POS: Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: pre=var=i=cate

CIDE DICTIONARY

prevaricate, v. i. [L. praevaricatus, p. p. of praevaricari to walk crookedly, to collude; prae before + varicare to straddle, fr. varicus straddling, varus bent. See Varicose.].

•  To shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course, or from truth; to speak with equivocation; to shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement.  [1913 Webster]

  "He prevaricates with his own understanding."  [1913 Webster]
•  To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.  [1913 Webster]
•  To undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To evade; equivocate; quibble; shuffle.

prevaricate, v. t. 

 To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert.  Jer. Taylor.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

prevaricate, v.intr.
1 speak or act evasively or misleadingly.
2 quibble, equivocate.

Usage

Often confused with procrastinate.

Derivative

prevarication n. prevaricator n.

Etymology

L praevaricari walk crookedly, practise collusion, in eccl.L transgress (as PRAE-, varicari straddle f. varus bent, knock-kneed)

THESAURUS

prevaricate

around the bush, back and fill, be untruthful, beat about, beg the question, belie, bicker, boggle, cavil, choplogic, deceive, dodge, draw the longbow, duck, equivocate, evade, evade the issue, exaggerate, falsify, fence, fib, garble, hedge, hem and haw, hum and haw, lie, lie flatly, mince the truth, mince words, mislead, misrepresent, mystify, nitpick, obscure, palter, parry, pick nits, pussyfoot, quibble, shift, shuffle, shy, sidestep, speak falsely, split hairs, story, stretch the truth, tell a lie, tergiversate, waffle, weasel

ROGET THESAURUS

prevaricate

Falsehood

VB be false, be a liar, speak falsely, tell a lie, lie, fib, lie like a trooper, swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness, misstate, misquote, miscite, misreport, misrepresent, belie, falsify, pervert, distort, put a false construction upon (misinterpret), prevaricate, equivocate, quibble, palter, palter to the understanding, repondre en Normand, trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose, garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to, give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon, color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider, varnish right and puzzle wrong, exaggerate, blague, invent, fabricate, trump up, get up, force, fake, hatch, concoct, romance, cry 'wolf!', dissemble, dissimulate, feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe, play possum, play false, play a double game, coquet, act a part, play a part, affect, simulate, pass off for, counterfeit, sham, make a show of, malinger, say the grapes are sour, cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror, hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors, commend the poisoned chalice to the lips, ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces, deceive.