Government officials prevaricated about the real costs of the project. during the hearings the witness was willing to prevaricate in order to protect his friend

Recent Examples on the Web

When an administration prevaricates on climate change, the effects won’t be felt for years, and even then will be hard to parse. Ed Yong, The Atlantic, "How the Pandemic Will End," 25 Mar. 2020

Until disclosures are made mandatory, companies are likely to prevaricate. The Economist, "Firms face physical, regulatory and legal risks from climate change," 21 Sep. 2019

Until the American public, whom doctors are well placed to inform, steps into this debate to demand action, Congress will continue to prevaricate. Annabelle Timsit, Quartz India, "A British journal has upset a lot of Indians by weighing in on Kashmir," 19 Aug. 2019

Every transfer situation is unique, and, on this particular occasion, why not just pay up instead of needlessly prevaricating? SI.com, "Harry Maguire Is a Good Signing for Man Utd But it Should Have Happened a Month Ago," 5 Aug. 2019

Anna hemmed and hawed and dissembled and prevaricated and, as the women got increasingly angry, allowed two fat tears to roll down her cheeks. Jessica Pressler, The Cut, "Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It," 28 May 2018

Meanwhile, Mohamed Nasheed, the former president whose conviction has now been quashed, prevaricated about returning from exile in Sri Lanka. The Economist, "The Maldives’ Supreme Court abruptly orders the release of several opposition politicians," 2 Feb. 2018

But this is the present Congress with the present Republican majorities running things, so Junior walked away to prevaricate another day. Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, "This Erik Prince Transcript Is Unbelievable," 8 Dec. 2017

Saudi Arabia, which accounts for about 20% of BAE’s overall sales, has bought more than 70 Typhoons, but is prevaricating over buying another 40 or so. The Economist, "Throttling backBAE Systems sheds 2,000 jobs in Britain," 12 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prevaricate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.