Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Latin
Origin: , past participle of praevaricari 'to leave a straight course', from varicari 'to spread the legs apart'

prevaricate

 verb
     
pre‧var‧i‧cate [intransitive and transitive] formal
to try to hide the truth by not answering questions directly:
'I'm not sure,' he prevaricated.
—prevarication noun [uncountable and countable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary