Words / C2

pri-VAR-ik-ayt/prɪˈværɪkeɪt/

To prevaricate is to avoid telling the truth by speaking unclearly or stalling: stop prevaricating, prevaricate about the figures. Lie is everyday and blunter; equivocate is a close cousin (ambiguous on purpose); stall and hedge are more informal. Prevarication is the noun. Formal, accusatory. In speech, stop dodging the question is enough. Prevaricate is evasion, not a pause to think. Do not accuse a careful qualifier of prevarication without cause.

Meaning

To avoid telling the truth by speaking in a unclear or delaying way.

Examples

• “Stop prevaricating and answer the question.”
• “Stop prevaricating and answer the question: yes, or no, with a date.”
• “He prevaricated about the missing funds until the minutes named the amount.”

Good to know

Dodge the truth by stalling or fog (formal). Everyday: dodge / hedge. Close: equivocate. Noun: prevarication. Accusatory. Contrast: a genuine pause to think.

Near in meaning

equivocate

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