Prevaricate

//pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from). intransitive, obsolete, transitive
  2. 2
    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information wordnet
  3. 3
    To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate. intransitive

    "The people saw the politician prevaricate every day."

  4. 4
    To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution. intransitive
  5. 5
    To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it. UK

Synonyms

All synonyms
equivocatebeat around the bushtergiversatearound the bushback and fillbe untruthful

Antonyms

All antonyms
direct

Example

More examples

"If we prevaricate and postpone this issue, the committee can continue to hide behind its inaction."

Etymology

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).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.