prevaricate

Pronunciation: /pɹɪˈvaɹɪkeɪt/

The English word “prevaricate” has 4 meanings listed here.

verb

To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
To speak or act in a manner that is intentionally ambiguous or evasive; equivocate.
To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praevāricātus, perfect active participle of praevāricor (“to walk crookedly; to play a false or double part”), from prae- + vāricō (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from vāricus (“with feet spread apart”); see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.