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“prevaricator”
1. Someone who repeatedly lies or refuses to be honest: There are some prevaricators who make a habit of always fibbing or trying to hoodwink people by exaggerating everything they say to other people.
2. Anyone who speaks so as to avoid the precise truth; a quibbler; an equivocator: A prevaricator originally meant a straddled or a bent-legged person with crooked legs or someone who, because of distorted legs, could not walk in a straight line; now, it is someone who purposely deviates or avoids speaking truthfully.
3. Etymology: from Latin praevaricator which came from prevaricatus; the past participle of the verb prevaricari, "to lie; literally, "to walk crookedly", as if "straddling something"; from prae, "before" + varicare, "to straddle, to walk crookedly".
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2. Anyone who speaks so as to avoid the precise truth; a quibbler; an equivocator: A prevaricator originally meant a straddled or a bent-legged person with crooked legs or someone who, because of distorted legs, could not walk in a straight line; now, it is someone who purposely deviates or avoids speaking truthfully.
3. Etymology: from Latin praevaricator which came from prevaricatus; the past participle of the verb prevaricari, "to lie; literally, "to walk crookedly", as if "straddling something"; from prae, "before" + varicare, "to straddle, to walk crookedly".
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This entry is located in the following units:
-or; -our (primarily British)
(page 11)
pre-, prae-
(page 19)
vari-
(page 1)