Prevaricate Definition
prĭ-vărĭ-kāt
prevaricated, prevaricates, prevaricating
verb
prevaricated, prevaricates, prevaricating
To turn aside from, or evade, the truth; equivocate.
Webster's New World
To tell an untruth; lie.
Webster's New World
To behave in an evasive or indecisive manner, usually in delay.
American Heritage
To utter or say in an evasive manner.
American Heritage
(intransitive, law) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
- tell truth
Origin of Prevaricate
Latin praevāricārī praevāricāt- to straddle across (something), collude (used of lawyers) prae- pre- vāricāre to straddle (from vāricus straddling) (from vārus bow-legged, bandy)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
-
From the participle stem of Latin praevāricārÄ«, from prae- with vāricāre, from vārus, from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend apart") (the root of "˜various').
From Wiktionary
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