prevaricate
(intransitive) To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
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He's also handling the antisemitism stuff far better than Corbyn did. Responding to cases of antisemitism, he doesn't prevaricate and instead he's just confirmed that the Greens will beef up candidate vetting and trai…
I’m going to out on limb here, and say he will: Obfuscate Deflect Lie Prevaricate Deny Bluster Talk about dow But he is rather stupid
Definitions
(intransitive) To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
Comments
(transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
Comments
(intransitive, legal) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.
“He's also handling the antisemitism stuff far better than Corbyn did. Responding to cases of antisemitism, he doesn't prevaricate and instead he's just confirmed that the Greens will beef up candidate vetting and training to combat it.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“I’m going to out on limb here, and say he will: Obfuscate Deflect Lie Prevaricate Deny Bluster Talk about dow But he is rather stupid”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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Other words near "prevaricate" (P)
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Semantically related
- hem and haw63%
To mumble and procrastinate in one's speech, especially with a reply to a hard question or with voicing a decision on a topical matter; to evade a question, giving vague answers; to equivocate or temporize.
- conversate63%
To converse, to have conversation.
- bloviate60%
(intransitive, US) To speak or discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner.