prevaricate

prevaricate
[prɪˈvarɪkeɪt]
verb

[no obj.]speak or act in an evasive way
支吾，搪塞，推诿，含糊其辞
he seemed to prevaricate when journalists asked pointed questions.
当记者问到一些尖锐问题时，他似乎在搪塞。

派生
prevarication
noun
prevaricator
noun
语源

mid 16th cent.(in the sense 'go astray, transgress'): from Latin praevaricat- 'walked crookedly, deviated', from the verb praevaricari, from prae 'before' + varicari 'straddle' (from varus 'bent, knock-kneed')

用法

The verbs prevaricate and procrastinate have similar but not identical meanings. Prevaricate means ‘act or speak in an evasive way’, as in he prevaricated at the mention of moneyProcrastinate, on the other hand, means ‘put off doing something’, as in the Western powers will procrastinate until it is too lateThe meanings are closely related—if someone prevaricates they often also procrastinate—and this can give rise to confusion in use. In around 50 per cent of the citations in the Oxford Reading Programme for prevaricate the meaning could be either ‘act evasively’ or ‘put off doing something’, or both, as for example in they may prevaricate before facing the brutal truth

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