27 February 2013

prevaricate

[pri-var-i-keyt]

verb (used without object), pre·var·i·cat·ed, pre·var·i·cat·ing.

– to speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately misstate or create an incorrect impression; lie.

Origin:
1575–85; < Latin praevāricātus, past participle of praevāricārī to straddle something, (of an advocate) collude with an opponent’s advocate, equivalent to prae- pre- + vāricāre to straddle, derivative of vārus bent outwards, bow-legged

Related forms
pre·var·i·ca·tion, noun
pre·var·i·ca·tive, pre·var·i·ca·to·ry [pri-var-i-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] Show IPA , adjective
un·pre·var·i·cat·ing, adjective

Synonyms
evade, shift.

Example sentence:

‘The journalist’s prevarication regarding the government’s new bill, revealed his political leanings’.

Today’s aphorism

Punk was originally about creating new, important, energetic music that would hopefully threaten the status quo and the stupidity of the 1970s.

– Jello Biafra, former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys.

On this day

27 February 1922 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, giving women the right to vote.

27 February 1951 – the Twenty-Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, stating that ‘no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once‘.

27 February 1964 – the Italian government states that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is in danger of collapsing. It asks for international assistance in stabilising the Tower. Stabilisation work commenced in 1998 and concluded in 2003.