prevarication
prih-vair-ih-KAY-shun
/prɪˌværɪˈkeɪʃən/
The act of speaking or acting in an evasive way; avoiding telling the truth without actually lying.
A prevaricator doesn't necessarily tell a direct lie; they use 'weasel words' and vague language to avoid the truth.
The story behind the word. This has one of the best histories: 'varicare' comes from 'varus', meaning 'bow-legged'. It originally described a plowman who couldn't walk in a straight line, making crooked furrows. A 'prevaricator' is someone whose words don't walk a straight line.
Word relationships
- equivocation: Equivocation is using ambiguous language; prevarication is a broader term for being evasive or 'shifty'.
- candor: The quality of being open and honest in expression; frankness.
Commonly confused with
- lying: Lying is stating a falsehood; prevarication is avoiding the truth through vagueness.
Word family
- prevaricate (verb): To speak or act in an evasive way.
Collocations
- endless prevarication
- resort to prevarication
- without prevarication
Example sentences
- "After an hour of political prevarication, we still didn't know if the senator supported the bill." A journalist frustrated with a slippery interviewee.
- "He was a man of much prevarication, never giving a straight answer where a crooked one would do." From a classic 19th-century novel.
Memory hook
Pre-vary-cation: You 'vary' your story so much that no one knows the truth. Walking a crooked line.
When not to use
Don't use this for a simple 'no' or a direct lie; it specifically describes 'dancing around' the truth.
Fun facts
- In legal history, a 'prevaricator' was specifically a lawyer who colluded with the opposing side to lose a case.
Related words
Explore more words
prevaricate, equivocate, Circumlocutory, Circumlocution, stall, equivocal
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