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prevaricatingmore about prevaricating

prevaricating


  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Prevaricate  \Pre*var"i*cate\,  v.  i.  [imp.  &  p.  p. 
  {Prevaricated};  p.  pr  &  vb  n.  {Prevaricating}.]  [L. 
  praevaricatus  p.  p.  of  praevaricari  to  walk  crookedly,  to 
  collude;  prae  before  +  varicare  to  straddle,  fr  varicus 
  straddling,  varus  bent.  See  {Varicose}.] 
  1.  To  shift  or  turn  from  one  side  to  the  other  from  the 
  direct  course,  or  from  truth;  to  speak  with  equivocation; 
  to  shuffle;  to  quibble;  as  he  prevaricates  in  his 
  statement. 
 
  He  prevaricates  with  his  own  understanding.  --South. 
 
  2.  (Civil  Law)  To  collude,  as  where  an  informer  colludes  with 
  the  defendant,  and  makes  a  sham  prosecution. 
 
  3.  (Eng.  Law)  To  undertake  a  thing  falsely  and  deceitfully, 
  with  the  purpose  of  defeating  or  destroying  it 
 
  Syn:  To  evade;  equivocate;  quibble;  shuffle. 
 
  Usage:  {Prevaricate},  {Evade},  {Equivocate}.  One  who  evades  a 
  question  ostensibly  answers  it  but  really  turns  aside 
  to  some  other  point.  He  who  equivocate  uses  words 
  which  have  a  double  meaning,  so  that  in  one  sense  he 
  can  claim  to  have  said  the  truth,  though  he  does  in 
  fact  deceive,  and  intends  to  do  it  He  who 
  prevaricates  talks  all  round  the  question,  hoping  to 
  ``dodge''  it  and  disclose  nothing. 




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