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“prevaricate”
prevaricate (pri VAR i kayt") (verb), prevaricates; prevaricated; prevaricating
1. To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to withhold information: The local officials prevaricated about the real costs of the new city hall.
2. To avoid giving a direct and honest answer or opinion, or a clear and truthful account of a situation, especially by quibbling or being deliberately ambiguous or misleading: When anyone prevaricates, he or she is avoiding telling the truth or is not providing the real facts.
3. To stray from or to evade the truth; to equivocate: As a witness under oath, Bert didn't prevaricate but he answered all of the questions honestly.
4. Etymology: from Latin prevaricate, "to walk crookedly" from varus, "knock-kneed"; from this the verb varicare, "straddle" was combined with the prefix prae-, "before, beyond" which produced praevaricari, "to walk crookedly" or "to deviate from straightforward behavior" and "to turn away from the truth".
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2. To avoid giving a direct and honest answer or opinion, or a clear and truthful account of a situation, especially by quibbling or being deliberately ambiguous or misleading: When anyone prevaricates, he or she is avoiding telling the truth or is not providing the real facts.
3. To stray from or to evade the truth; to equivocate: As a witness under oath, Bert didn't prevaricate but he answered all of the questions honestly.
4. Etymology: from Latin prevaricate, "to walk crookedly" from varus, "knock-kneed"; from this the verb varicare, "straddle" was combined with the prefix prae-, "before, beyond" which produced praevaricari, "to walk crookedly" or "to deviate from straightforward behavior" and "to turn away from the truth".
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This entry is located in the following units:
-ate (to do)
(page 5)
-cate
(page 6)
pre-, prae-
(page 19)
vari-
(page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“prevaricate”
prevaricate (pri VAR i kayt")
This cate provides information about the process of intentionally avoid telling the truth or to lie.
This entry is located in the following unit:
cate family of verbs
(page 4)
To avoid giving a direct and honest answer or statement; to lie. (2)
This entry is located in the following unit:
Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words
(page 64)