prevarications
prevarications
Pronunciation
The word prevarications refers to the act of speaking or acting in an evasive way to avoid telling the truth. It’s a sophisticated way of describing "beating around the bush" or being intentionally vague.
Phonetic Breakdown
IPA Spelling: /prɪˌværɪˈkeɪʃənz/
Here is the syllable-by-syllable breakdown:
pre- /prɪ/: A quick, unstressed opening with a "p" sound followed by a soft "r" and a short "i" sound.
-va- /ˌvær/: The secondary stress falls here, featuring a short "a" sound (as in "cat").
-ri- /ɪ/: A short, neutral transitional vowel.
-ca- /ˈkeɪ/: This is the primary stressed syllable, featuring a long "a" sound (as in "bake").
-tions /ʃənz/: The classic suffix ending with a "sh" sound, a neutral "uh" sound, and a voiced "z" for the plural.
Word Form Variations
Noun (Singular): Prevarication
Noun (Plural): Prevarications
Verb (Infinitive): Prevaricate
Verb (Present Participle): Prevaricating
Verb (Past Tense/Participle): Prevaricated
Noun (Agent): Prevaricator (one who prevaricates)
Adjective: Prevaricatory
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun Forms
Definition: The act of dodging the truth through ambiguous or vague language; a statement that is technically not a lie but is intended to mislead.
Synonyms: Equivocation, evasion, fabrication, quibbling, shuffling.
Antonyms: Honesty, candor, directness, veracity, frankness.
Verb Forms
Definition: To deliberately avoid giving a direct or honest answer; to stall or waver in one's speech to hide the facts.
Synonyms: Hedge, equivocate, fib, palter, sidestep.
Antonyms: Confront, clarify, attest, verify, speak plainly.
Adjective Form
Definition: Describing a manner of speech or behavior that is elusive and characterized by a refusal to commit to the truth.
Synonyms: Evasive, dishonest, shifty, noncommittal, indirect.
Antonyms: Forthright, blunt, sincere, unambiguous, transparent.
Examples of Use
To see how prevarications and its derivatives function in the real world, consider these examples ranging from classic literature to modern political commentary.
In Literature and Classical Texts
"He was a man of many prevarications, a master of the half-truth who could navigate a conversation for hours without ever dropping an anchor in reality." (Inspired by the prose styles of Henry James)
"I will not prevaricate with you; I will tell you the truth, however much it may hurt." (Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South)
In Journalism and Online Publications
"The witness's testimony was a masterclass in prevarication, filled with 'I don't recalls' and vague timelines that left the committee with more questions than answers." (The New York Times, November 2022)
"Technical prevarication has become a staple of corporate PR, where 'unexpected downtime' is often a euphemism for avoidable systemic failure." (The Verge, May 2023)
In Entertainment and Media
"In the courtroom drama Better Call Saul, the protagonist’s survival often depends on his ability to prevaricate under pressure, spinning webs of plausible deniability to protect his clients." (Critical analysis of AMC's Better Call Saul)
"The plot thickens as the detective realizes the suspect’s prevarications regarding his whereabouts on the night of the crime were not meant to hide a murder, but a much smaller, embarrassing secret." (Standard trope in Agatha Christie’s Poirot adaptations)
In General Public Discourse and Politics
"During the press conference, the spokesperson's prevarication regarding the budget cuts only served to increase public anxiety rather than soothe it." (Common political reporting)
"Stop prevaricating and give us a 'yes' or 'no' on whether the project will be finished by the end of the quarter." (Standard workplace or boardroom discourse)
10 Quotes Using Prevarications
"The most common sort of prevarications are those by which a man deceives himself." (Stephen Leacock)
"Let us have no more prevarications and no more delays." (Sir Robert Peel)
"Our lives are full of such prevarications, and we call them 'politeness' or 'discretion'."
"The historian must be on guard against the subtle prevarications found in official state records."
"History is often a collection of prevarications agreed upon by the victors."
"A politician’s prevarications are frequently more revealing than their direct statements."
"She saw through his many prevarications and demanded the unvarnished truth."
"The document was a masterpiece of prevarications, designed to obscure rather than reveal."
"True character is revealed when one refuses to indulge in the prevarications of the crowd."
"Behind every great scandal lies a long trail of intentional prevarications."
Etymology
The word prevarications has a surprisingly physical origin story. It comes from the Latin verb praevaricari, which literally means "to walk crookedly."
The Etymology
The word is built from two Latin parts:
Prae-: A prefix meaning "before" or "beyond."
Varicare: Meaning "to straddle," which comes from varus, meaning "bow-legged" or "knock-kneed."
In its earliest sense, the word described someone who didn't walk in a straight line because of a physical deformity or an awkward gait. Over time, this physical "crookedness" became a metaphor for moral crookedness.
First Known Use and Meaning
The term entered the English language in the late 14th century.
Initial Meaning: When it first appeared in English, it was used primarily in a legal or religious context. In Roman law, a praevaricator was a lawyer who engaged in "collusion"—essentially a prosecutor who secretly worked with the defendant to lose the case. It represented a betrayal of duty through dishonest "shuffling" or double-dealing.
Evolution: By the 16th and 17th centuries, the meaning broadened from specific legal betrayal to the more general sense we use today: the act of "straying" from the truth through evasive speech or "crooked" explanations.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Prevarications
While prevarications is a formal term, it appears in specific rhetorical contexts and shares idiomatic space with several common expressions regarding evasiveness.
Phrases and Idioms Using the Word
A master of prevarications: Used to describe someone who is exceptionally skilled at avoiding direct questions.
A web of prevarications: Refers to a complex series of evasions that become difficult to maintain or untangle.
Transparent prevarications: A phrase for excuses or dodges that are so poorly constructed they are immediately obvious.
Cease your prevarications: A formal command, often used in legal or high-stakes settings, telling someone to stop stalling and get to the point.
Polite prevarications: Socially acceptable "white lies" or evasive maneuvers used to avoid hurting someone's feelings.
Idioms Using Synonyms or Similar Concepts
Beat around the bush: To avoid the main point of a topic by talking about irrelevant things.
Economical with the truth: A common British idiom for being evasive or omitting key facts without technically lying.
Dance around the issue: To avoid dealing with a problem or question directly.
Double-talk: Language that appears to be earnest and meaningful but is actually a mixture of sense and nonsense to hide the truth.
Smoke and mirrors: The use of deceptive or confusing information to make a situation look better than it is.
Shifting the goalposts: A form of prevarication where the criteria for a "true" answer or success is changed mid-conversation to avoid accountability.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of prevarications from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
