prevaricate
verb [intransitive, transitive] (formal)Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they prevaricate | |
he / she / it prevaricates | |
past simple prevaricated | |
past participle prevaricated | |
-ing form prevaricating |
- (+ speech)
to avoid giving a direct answer to a question in order to hide the truth synonym beat about the bush支吾搪塞;闪烁其词;吞吞吐吐 Word Originmid 16th cent. (earlier (Middle English) as prevarication and prevaricator), in the sense ‘go astray, transgress’: from Latin praevaricat- ‘walked crookedly, deviated’, from the verb praevaricari, from prae ‘before’ + varicari ‘straddle’.