prevarication
Speaking around truth
Prevarication is the act of speaking evasively or misleadingly without quite lying outright.
Where a lie makes a false statement, prevarication dances around the truth through omission, ambiguity, or misdirection: His answer was a masterpiece of prevarication.
The word carries a formal or legalistic tone, often describing testimony or official statements that technically avoid falsehood while concealing what matters.
Disposition toward falsehood
- untruthA false statement
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- misrepresentationFalse or misleading statement
duplicity · deceitfulness · insincerity · disingenuousness · mendacity · falsity · perfidy · guile
Deliberate falsehood
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- untruthA false statement
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
- whopperOutsized thing or untruth
tall tale · canard · misstatement · invention · fiction · story · half-truth · white lie
Tendency to avoid directness
- hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
- dodgingAvoiding by moving aside
- sidesteppingMoving aside to avoid
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
deflection · circumvention · skirting · fudging · weaseling · parrying · ducking · shirking
Openness to multiple interpretations
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
- indirectnessLack of straightforwardness
- circuitousnessLack of directness
waffling · quibbling · paltering · caviling · double-talk · hair-splitting · fence-sitting · beating around the bush
Intentional focus manipulation
- distortionTwisting from original state
- sophistryDeceptive reasoning
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- muddyingMaking less clear
confusion · smokescreen · clouding · obscuring · veiling · mystification · double meaning · wordplay
Intentional delay tactics
- temporizingDeliberately delaying decision-making
- procrastinationHabitual task avoidance
- hesitationDelay from uncertainty
- deferralAct of delaying action
foot-dragging · dilly-dallying · buying time · delaying tactics · playing for time · tergiversation · vacillation · dawdling
dishonesty
Disposition toward falsehood
- untruthA false statement
- falsehoodDeliberate untrue statement
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
misrepresentation · duplicity · deceitfulness · insincerity · disingenuousness · mendacity · falsity · perfidy · guile · treachery
lie
Deliberate falsehood
- fibTrivial, harmless falsehood
- untruthA false statement
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
whopper · tall tale · canard · misstatement · invention · fiction · story · half-truth · white lie · barefaced lie
evasiveness
Tendency to avoid directness
- hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
- dodgingAvoiding by moving aside
- sidesteppingMoving aside to avoid
avoidance · deflection · circumvention · skirting · fudging · weaseling · parrying · ducking · shirking · stonewalling
ambiguity
Openness to multiple interpretations
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
- indirectnessLack of straightforwardness
circuitousness · waffling · quibbling · paltering · caviling · double-talk · hair-splitting · fence-sitting · beating around the bush · pussyfooting
misdirection
Intentional focus manipulation
- distortionTwisting from original state
- sophistryDeceptive reasoning
- spinRapid rotation around axis
muddying · confusion · smokescreen · clouding · obscuring · veiling · mystification · double meaning · wordplay · casuistry
stalling
Intentional delay tactics
- temporizingDeliberately delaying decision-making
- procrastinationHabitual task avoidance
- hesitationDelay from uncertainty
deferral · foot-dragging · dilly-dallying · buying time · delaying tactics · playing for time · tergiversation · vacillation · dawdling · holding off
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
- falsehoodslie, lies, lying, fib, fibbing
- honestyhonesty, truthfulness, candor, sincerity, dishonesty
- lies & deceptionlies, fibs, whoppers, tall tales, white lies
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
- flatteryflatter, praise, flattery, compliment, compliments
prevaricationtruth
Accordance with reality
honesty · truthfulness · candor · veracity · sincerity
prevaricationforthrightness
Quality of being direct
directness · bluntness · frankness · straight talk · candor