prevaricate
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- prævaricate (archaic)
Etymology
[edit]From the participle stem of Latin praevāricārī (“to walk crookedly; to play a false or double part”), from prae- + vāricāre (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from vāricus (“with feet spread apart”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]prevaricate (third-person singular simple present prevaricates, present participle prevaricating, simple past and past participle prevaricated)
- (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
- (intransitive) To shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour; to deviate from the truth; to evade the truth; to waffle or be (intentionally) ambiguous.
- The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
- (intransitive, law) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
- (law, UK) To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]deviate, transgress
|
shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour, to equivocate
|
(law) collude
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See also
[edit]Italian
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Verb
[edit]prevaricate
- inflection of prevaricare:
Etymology 2
[edit]Participle
[edit]prevaricate f pl
Spanish
[edit]Verb
[edit]prevaricate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of prevaricar combined with te
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
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- en:Law
- British English
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian verb forms
- Italian past participle forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms