prevarication

/pri,væri'keiʃn/

Học thuật

Thân thiện

A politician's prevarication was clear during the press conference.

Definition

Noun:
- The deliberate act of deviating from the truth: The act of avoiding a direct, honest answer or statement; evasion or deceit in speech or action.
- Intentionally vague or ambiguous speech: The use of unclear or misleading language to avoid commitment or to conceal the truth.
- A statement that deviates from or perverts the truth: A specific instance of lying or being evasive; a false or misleading utterance.

Usage Examples

Noun:
- His prevarication when asked about the missing funds made everyone suspicious. (His evasion of the truth when asked about the missing funds made everyone suspicious.)
- The politician's answer was a masterful prevarication, full of vague promises. (The politician's answer was a masterful piece of evasive speech, full of vague promises.)
- We are tired of the constant prevarications from the company's management. (We are tired of the constant misleading statements from the company's management.)

Advanced Usage

"To be guilty of prevarication": To be culpable for avoiding the truth.
- The witness was found guilty of prevarication during the trial. (The witness was found culpable for avoiding the truth during the trial.)
"A web of prevarication": A complex series of lies or evasions.
- He had spun such a web of prevarication that he could no longer remember his original story. (He had created such a complex series of lies that he could no longer remember his original story.)

Variants and Related Words

Prevaricate (verb): To speak or act in an evasive way; to avoid telling the truth directly.
- He chose to prevaricate rather than give a straight answer. (He chose to be evasive rather than give a straight answer.)
Prevaricator (noun): A person who speaks or acts evasively; a liar.
- The investigation revealed him to be a habitual prevaricator. (The investigation revealed him to be a habitual liar.)

Synonyms

Equivocation: The use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself.
Evasion: The act of avoiding something, especially a direct answer or truth.
Fabrication: The action or process of inventing or concocting something, typically a deceitful story.

Related Phrases

To hedge or to dodge the question: To avoid giving a direct answer (similar in meaning to prevaricating).
- Instead of admitting fault, he hedged and dodged the question. (Instead of admitting fault, he avoided giving a direct answer.)

Related Idioms

To beat around the bush: To avoid talking about what is important; to speak indirectly.
- Stop beating around the bush and tell me what really happened. (Stop avoiding the main point and tell me what really happened.)

A politician's prevarication was clear during the press conference.

Noun

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