The Only Use of
prevaricate
in
Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
- But to be stopped on the stairs, to be forced to listen to her trivial, irrelevant gossip, to pestering demands for payment, threats and complaints, and to rack his brains for excuses, to prevaricate, to lie—no, rather than that, he would creep down the stairs like a cat and slip out unseen.†
Chpt 1.1
Definition:
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information; or make false statements