What does prevarication mean?
Prevarication means the deliberate use of evasive, ambiguous, or misleading language instead of stating the truth plainly. It is especially associated with answers that evade a question, conceal important facts, or shift responsibility elsewhere, as in political debate and formal investigation. The term conveys dishonesty and evasiveness rather than an honest mistake or simple uncertainty. Prevarication can also have a specialized legal sense: a knowingly false statement made by a witness under oath. Because it is more formal and accusatory than words such as avoidance, it generally appears in criticism, legal reporting, and argumentative prose. Its usefulness lies in naming a recognizable form of deception in which language itself is used to frustrate truthful communication.
The use of evasive or misleading language to avoid stating the truth or giving a direct answer.
"Continued prevarication only strengthened the suspicion that he was hiding something."
Formal and generally disapproving; it usually implies deliberate deception or avoidance.
In law, a deliberate false statement made by a person under oath.
"The court found that the discrepancy amounted to prevarication."
A specialized legal sense referring to a false statement made during sworn testimony.
The plural is used for separate instances or acts of evasive or misleading speech.
"The report documented repeated prevarications by senior officials."
Prevarication comes from a Latin word for walking crookedly, an apt metaphor for speech that twists away from the truth.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does prevarication come from?
Prevarication comes from the Latin noun praevaricatio, a derivative of praevaricari, meaning to go crookedly or behave deceitfully. The latter word is formed from prae- and Latin varus, meaning crooked, crooked going, or irregular. The earliest sense was associated with straying from a proper course, from which the modern sense of evading the truth developed. Its English form dates from the early 17th century and is closely related to prevaricate and prevaricator.
Related word forms
How prevarication is actually used
The word has a formal, disapproving tone and generally implies deliberate avoidance of the truth. In legal usage, it is more specific than general falsehood and refers to a false statement made under oath.
Easily confused with prevarication
Prevarication emphasizes the evasive use of language, whereas fabrication more specifically denotes the invention or distortion of facts.