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Definition of Prevaricate
1. Verb. Be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.
Generic synonyms: Misinform, Mislead
Derivative terms: Equivocation, Equivocation, Equivocation, Equivocator, Paltering, Prevarication, Prevarication, Prevarication, Prevaricator, Tergiversation
Definition of Prevaricate
1. v. i. 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.
2. v. t. To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert.
Definition of Prevaricate
1. Verb. (transitive intransitive obsolete) To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from). ¹
2. Verb. (intransitive) To shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour; to evade the truth; to waffle or be (intentionally) ambiguous. ¹
3. Verb. (intransitive) To behave in an evasive way such as to delay action; to procrastinate. ¹
4. Verb. (intransitive legal) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Prevaricate
1. [v -CATED, -CATING, -CATES]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Prevaricate
Literary usage of Prevaricate
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Treatise on the Law of Evidence as Administered in England and Ireland by John Pitt Taylor (1887)
"... that it gives him leave to attend, adding, in case he be a member, " if he
think fit"5 If the witness, on attending, refuse to be sworn, or prevaricate, ..."
2. A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from by Richard Chenevix Trench (1865)
"To prevaricate ' is to betray the cause which one affects to sustain, the prevaricator
... Prevaricate."
3. Life in Danbury: Being a Brief But Comprehensive Record of the Doings of a by James Montgomery Bailey (1873)
"... and never sought to prevaricate on ft tax list, and has the right kind of gun,
he can fetch down an average of three coons a day through the season, ..."
4. The General Biographical Dictionary: Containing an Historical and Critical by Alexander Chalmers (1816)
"This work was esteemed not only a full design to prevaricate in this matter; that
they were en- d tied with a large portion of the Huly Spirit, ..."
Other Resources:
