different between belie vs prevaricate

English

Alternative forms

• bely

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??la?/, /b??la?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??la?/, /b??la?/, /bi?la?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Etymology 1

From Middle English belyen, beliggen, from Old English belicgan, bilicgan (“to lie around, surround, hedge in, encompass”). Equivalent to be- (“around, by”) +? lie (“to be positioned”).

Verb

belie (third-person singular simple present belies, present participle belying, simple past belay, past participle belain)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To lie around; encompass.
2. (transitive, obsolete, of an army) To surround; beleaguer.

Etymology 2

From Middle English belyen, beleo?en, from Old English bel?ogan (“to deceive by lying, be mistaken”), from Proto-West Germanic *bileugan (“to belie”). Equivalent to be- (“about”) +? lie (“to deceive”). Compare German belügen (“to tell a lie”).

Verb

belie (third-person singular simple present belies, present participle belying, simple past and past participle belied)

1. (transitive, archaic) To tell lies about. [from 13th c.]

   Synonyms: slander, calumniate
2. (transitive) To give a false representation of. [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: misrepresent
3. (transitive) To contradict, to show (something) to be false. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: contradict, give lie to, give the lie to
4. (transitive, rare) To call a liar; to accuse of falsehood. [from 17th c.]
5. (transitive, rare) To fill with lies; to lie to.
6. (transitive, perhaps nonstandard) To conceal the contradictory or ironic presence of (something).
7. (transitive, perhaps nonstandard) To show, evince or demonstrate (something) to be present, particularly something deemed contradictory or ironic.
8. (obsolete) To mimic; to counterfeit.

Translations

Anagrams

• Elbie

English

Alternative forms

• prævaricate (archaic)

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin praev?ric?r? (“to walk crookedly, to play a false or double part”), from prae- + v?ric?re (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from v?rus (“deviating from the right line, bent outwards, different”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?- (“to bend apart”) (the root of various).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p???va??ke?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p???væ??ke?t/, /p???v???ke?t/

Verb

prevaricate (third-person singular simple present prevaricates, present participle prevaricating, simple past and past participle prevaricated)

1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To deviate, transgress; to go astray (from).
2. (intransitive) To shift or turn from direct speech or behaviour; to deviate from the truth; to evade the truth; to waffle or be (intentionally) ambiguous.

   The people saw the politician prevaricate every day.

3. (intransitive, law) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
4. (law, Britain) To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.

Synonyms

Derived terms

• prevaricatest
• prevarication
• prevaricator

Translations

See also

• lie

Italian

Verb

prevaricate

1. inflection of prevaricare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of prevaricato