English Dictionary

PREVARICATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does prevarication mean? 

PREVARICATION (noun)
  The noun PREVARICATION has 3 senses:

1. a statement that deviates from or perverts the truthplay

2. intentionally vague or ambiguousplay

3. the deliberate act of deviating from the truthplay

  Familiarity information: PREVARICATION used as a noun is uncommon.


 Dictionary entry details 


PREVARICATION (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A statement that deviates from or perverts the truth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

lie; prevarication

Hypernyms ("prevarication" is a kind of...):

falsehood; falsity; untruth (a false statement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prevarication"):

fib; story; tale; taradiddle; tarradiddle (a trivial lie)

jactitation ((law) a false boast that can harm others; especially a false claim to be married to someone (formerly actionable at law))

walloper; whopper (a gross untruth; a blatant lie)

white lie (an unimportant lie (especially one told to be tactful or polite))

Derivation:

prevaricate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Intentionally vague or ambiguous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

equivocation; evasiveness; prevarication

Hypernyms ("prevarication" is a kind of...):

ambiguity; equivocalness (unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning)

untruthfulness (the quality of being untruthful)

Derivation:

prevaricate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)


Sense 3

Meaning:

The deliberate act of deviating from the truth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

fabrication; lying; prevarication

Hypernyms ("prevarication" is a kind of...):

falsification; misrepresentation (a willful perversion of facts)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prevarication"):

fibbing; paltering (a trivial act of lying or being deliberately unclear)

Derivation:

prevaricate (be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information)


 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Home is where you hang your hat." (English proverb)

"Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the Creator intended for you." (Native American proverb, Hopi)

"Suspicion is the sister of the wrong." (Arabic proverb)

"That which is written in Heaven, comes to pass on Earth." (Corsican proverb)



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