prevaricate
verb

- to deviate from the truth; to speak or act evasively.

- to try to hide the truth by not answering questions directly.

- to avoid telling the truth or saying exactly what you think, especially by talking about other things.

Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Longman Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

Prevaricate entered English in the mid-1500s — derived from the Latin verb praevaricari, a compound of: prae- = “before, in front of” and  varicare = “to straddle, to walk with legs wide apart”; varus = “bent, knock-kneed, bow-legged”.

The original Latin sense was entirely physical: a person who walked crookedly, with legs splayed. In Roman legal practice, the word acquired a specific professional meaning — an advocate who secretly colluded with the opposing side, appearing to represent his client while actually working against him. The crooked walk became crooked dealing.

From there, the meaning broadened into the general sense we use today: speaking or acting in a way that deliberately avoids the truth. The idea of “straddling” survived in spirit — someone who prevaricates is straddling two sides, refusing to plant both feet firmly in honesty.

Useful distinctions:
LIE = an outright false statement
PREVARICATE = evade, mislead, or be deliberately vague — without necessarily saying anything technically false
EQUIVOCATE = use words with double meanings to create a misleading impression. 

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

beat around the bush, be evasive (deliberately vague, mealy-mouthed, non-committal, vague on purpose), beg the question, blow hot and cold (smoke), bluff, cavil, dance around the issue, deceive, dissemble, dither, dodge (the question), double-talk, drag one’s feet, duck and weave, equivocate, evade, fabricate, fib, flannel, fudge, give a non-answer (a politician’s answer), give someone the runaround, go around in circles, hedge, hem and haw, jive, keep someone in the dark, lie, mislead, misrepresent, muddy the waters, not give a straight answer, obfuscate, palter, play both sides (for time, word games), PREVARICATE, pull the wool over someone’s eyes, put up a smokescreen, quibble, shilly-shally, shuffle, sidestep the issue, sit on the fence, skirt around the issue, speak out of both sides of one’s mouth (with forked tongue), spin, stall, stonewall, straddle/stretch the truth, talk in circles (out of both sides of one’s mouth), tergiversate, waffle, weasel (out), wriggle out of answering

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“It's frustrating to watch politicians PREVARICATING in Q&A sessions,... I'm now avoiding such programmes."

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