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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “prevaricate”

“prevaricate” is pronounced /pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/ (pruh-VE-ruh-kayt) in American English and /pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “vɛ”.
The sound

Say “prevaricate” in 4 beats

Say it like this

prevaricate

/pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

4 beats
  1. pɹəpɹə
  2. vɛvɛstress
  3. ɹəɹə
  4. keɪtkeɪt
IPA (American)
/pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/
IPA (British)
/pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/
Respelling
pruh-VE-ruh-kayt
Syllables
4 — pɹə-VƐ-ɹə-keɪt
Stress
Stress the second syllable: pɹə-VƐ-ɹə-keɪt. “vɛ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/

British

/pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “prevaricate” means

  1. verb

    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information

Say it in a sentence

“Tell me plainly and do not prevaricate any longer.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

8 sounds, in the order you say them
ppɹr×2əschwa×2vvɛshort ekkeɪlong att

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

“prevaricate”, answered

How do you pronounce “prevaricate”?

“prevaricate” is pronounced /pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/ (pruh-VE-ruh-kayt) in American English and /pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “vɛ”. Build it as pɹə-VƐ-ɹə-keɪt, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “prevaricate” have?

4: pɹə · vɛ · ɹə · keɪt. The beat lands on the second, “vɛ”.

Is “prevaricate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /pɹəˈvɛɹəkeɪt/ (pruh-VE-ruh-kayt); British English says /pɹɪvaɹɪkeɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “prevaricate” mean?

As a verb: be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information For example: “Tell me plainly and do not prevaricate any longer.”

Where is the stress in “prevaricate”?

Stress the second syllable: pɹə-VƐ-ɹə-keɪt. “vɛ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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