tergiversate

From Latin tergiversor (“turn one's back, make excuses”); from tergum (“the back”) + versō, frequentative of vertō (“turn”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːdʒɪvəseɪt/
• (US) enPR: tər-jɪv'ər-sāt, IPA^(key): /tɝˈdʒɪvɝseɪt/

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tergiversate (third-person singular simple present tergiversates, present participle tergiversating, simple past and past participle tergiversated)

1. (intransitive) To evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to obfuscate in a deliberate manner.
   • 1999, Philip McCutchan and Werner Levi, The Hoof, →ISBN, page 18:

     The officials soon concluded that the easiest way to remain on good terms with the court was to elude responsibility, to tergiversate, to prevent results.

2. (intransitive) To change sides or affiliation; to apostatize.
   • 2002, Colin Morris and Peter Roberts, chapter 8, in Pilgrimage: The English Experience from Becket to Bunyan, →ISBN, page 221:

     Henry had hesitated before authorising the spoliation; he would soon tergiversate on other matters of doctrine but this act was irreversible.

• (to evade, obfuscate): prevaricate
• (to change sides): desert

• tergiversation

tergiversate

1. second-person plural present indicative of tergiversare
2. second-person plural imperative of tergiversare
3. feminine plural of tergiversato

• gravitereste

tergiversāte

1. vocative masculine singular of tergiversātus