What's the difference between prevaricate and undertake?

Prevaricate


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course, or from truth; to speak with equivocation; to shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement.
  • (v. i.) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
  • (v. i.) To undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
  • (v. t.) To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The move follows months of prevarication by the prime minister with carefully worded denials.
  • (2) Second, share prices have been increasing all year in response to prevarication by the US central bank, which has struggled to raise interest rates despite signalling a willingness to do so.
  • (3) Years of failed talks and prevarication by industrialised countries have shaken his belief in the UN process.
  • (4) And yet he was back on the show as a panellist a few weeks later, and seemed no happier, telling one prevaricating contestant: "I'm tired of looking at you."
  • (5) But President Asif Ali Zardari's government, faced with a wave of public outrage, has prevaricated on the issue, and says it cannot decide on the immunity question until 14 March.
  • (6) But the international community has prevaricated to the point of inertia.
  • (7) The timeframe, though on the face of it more rapid than other redress offers by banks, should be seen against the background of more than a decade of prevarication and denial by the bank.
  • (8) Incrementally, forwards and backwards, prevaricating, bickering: so it has been for three years of European troubles that began on the periphery, in Greece, but have spread to the heartland, condemning Europe to a lost decade.
  • (9) Because denial of reality and prevarication are hallmarks of alcoholism, we make two recommendations.
  • (10) The move follows months of seeming prevarication by the prime minister with carefully worded denials.
  • (11) We urgently need the same high levels of protection in our home waters.” Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, said: “It is now six years since the last Labour government’s Marine and Coastal Access Act and during that time the government has delayed and prevaricated on delivering a much-needed ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas.
  • (12) And at a time when we are dealing with a global climate change threat, when international borders have ebbed, when extremism doesn’t recognise nations and when we need to work together more than ever, is it really radical to quit Nato, to prevaricate over membership of the EU or trash our reputation as an internationalist party.
  • (13) She will own up to a fighting spirit, even if she prevaricates over the details.
  • (14) Lady Valentine of the business lobby group London First told the BBC she was "frustrated by 50 years of prevarication" over the issue.
  • (15) Confronted with mass discontent, the once-progressive major parties, as Thomas Frank laments in his latest book Pity the Billionaire , triangulate and accommodate, hesitate and prevaricate, muzzled by what he calls "terminal niceness".
  • (16) But the meeting is overshadowed by deadlock in Athens and prevarication in Madrid.
  • (17) And I’ve never had a problem with taking decisions, or been much of a man for prevarication.” And not much of a man for regrets about the campaign he fought, though it’s no secret there were tensions between SNP strategists and the umbrella Yes campaign.
  • (18) It has given rise to a mentality in which there is so much elision of the past and subtle prevarication about race that the bogus breast-beating about the necessity of accommodating historical complexity by leaving the statue in place frankly sounds insulting to many.
  • (19) No more floundering and prevaricating, this is the time for MPs to lay down the law with strong red line amendments to the bill triggering article 50.
  • (20) But President Asif Ali Zardari's government, faced with a wave of public outrage, has prevaricated on the issue, and says it cannot decide on immunity issue until 14 March.

Undertake


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To take upon one's self; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to set about; to attempt.
  • (v. t.) Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform or to execute; to covenant; to contract.
  • (v. t.) Hence, to guarantee; to promise; to affirm.
  • (v. t.) To assume, as a character.
  • (v. t.) To engage with; to attack.
  • (v. t.) To have knowledge of; to hear.
  • (v. t.) To take or have the charge of.
  • (v. i.) To take upon one's self, or assume, any business, duty, or province.
  • (v. i.) To venture; to hazard.
  • (v. i.) To give a promise or guarantee; to be surety.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, as the same task confronts the Lib Dems, do we not now have a priceless opportunity to bring the two parties together to undertake a fundamental rethink of the way social democratic principles and policies can be made relevant to modern society.
  • (2) But earlier this year the Unesco world heritage committee called for the cancellation of all such Virunga oil permits and appealed to two concession holders, Total and Soco International, not to undertake exploration in world heritage sites.
  • (3) Without that, and without undertaking big changes, the service's future may fall into doubt, he says.
  • (4) The performance of the instrument was evaluated by undertaking in vitro measurements of the reflectance spectra of blood.
  • (5) This work undertakes the study of changes in urinary, plasmatic and tissue levels of Thromboxane B2 (TXB2) as well as in tissue Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) after pancreas transplantation and the effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on these changes.
  • (6) The surgeon must have an exact idea of this canal before undertaking operation for plastics of the hernial defect.
  • (7) So far, there is little sign of similar hubris at the Human Brain Project, a far more complex undertaking, but perhaps for the moment Markram's ambition is precisely what is needed.
  • (8) This report describes how the difficulties were surmounted, and how the National Technical Centre then proceeded to undertake activities to extend awareness of the ICIDH.
  • (9) Since the regime was introduced, we have been undertaking work to ensure that senior manager responsibilities are properly allocated and understood in firms.
  • (10) The questions facing nursing now are not whether nurses should undertake this role, but how well do they provide information?
  • (11) The prison suicide rate, at 120 deaths per 100,000 people, is about 10 times higher than the rate in the general population.” The report calls for a recently revised incentives and earned privileges regime to be scrapped and for an undertaking that prisoners with mental health problems or at known risk of suicide should never be placed in solitary.
  • (12) Additional reconstruction of the "donor" limb arteries and dilatation of the iliac artery improve circulation in the "donor limb", which makes it possible to undertake cross femoral-femoral shunting in patients with a high risk of aorto-femoral reconstruction in atherosclerotic affection of the "donor" limb.
  • (13) They were charged with undertaking acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act.
  • (14) Despite the fact that this approach has several caveats, consistent results obtained in short-term studies would more readily justify the undertaking of a large-scale, long-term controlled study using colon cancer or adenomatous polyp recurrence as an endpoint.
  • (15) The chance discovery of an oesophageal localisation of Crohn's disease led the authors to undertake routine study of the oesophagus in their last 18 patients suffering from the disorder.
  • (16) Pedro is due in London on Wednesday to undertake a medical and discuss personal terms, with United having withdrawn their interest.
  • (17) Maybe this will be increasing the frequency of patrols, or going to places that the Obama administration has been hesitant to go – such as actually undertaking a non-innocent passage military patrols within 12 miles of an artificial island.
  • (18) He held out a hand to North Korea again, calling for it to denuclearise; and to Burma, if it undertakes democratic reform and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
  • (19) The judge noted the “seriousness of these offences and impact on road traffic, particularly given the number of fines previously issued against BT by TfL for similar offences.” Firms undertaking work anywhere in London need a permit before digging up the roads, allowing highway authorities to coordinate work to minimise disruption.
  • (20) Prior to undertaking the exploration of phenomena in a research study with people from different cultures, certain elements must be addressed in order to bridge cultural and linguistic differences.