Word.ws English Dictionary

tergiversate

UK/ˈtɜːd͡ʒɪvəseɪt//tɝˈd͡ʒɪvɝseɪt/

tergiversate verb: to evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to obfuscate in a deliberate manner.

Verb

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.
    • 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.1999, Philip McCutchan, Werner Levi, The Hoof, →ISBN, page 18
  2. (intransitive) To change sides or affiliation; to apostatize.
    • Henry had hesitated before authorising the spoliation; he would soon tergiversate on other matters of doctrine but this act was irreversible.2002, Colin Morris, Peter Roberts, chapter 8, in Pilgrimage: The English Experience from Becket to Bunyan, →ISBN, page 221
    Synonyms:
    desert
  3. (intransitive, rare) To flee by turning one's back.

tergiversate meaning in Bengali and Arabic

tergiversate in Bengali

গোলমাল করা, এড়িয়ে যাওয়া, পক্ষ পরিবর্তন করা

tergiversate in Arabic

to change sides or affiliation; to apostatize
اِرْتَدَّ irtadda

Synonyms of tergiversate

Forms of tergiversate

third-person singular presenttergiversates
present participletergiversating
past participletergiversated
pasttergiversated

Origin of tergiversate

Borrowed from Latin tergiversātus, perfect active participle of tergiversor (“to evade, to avoid, to turn one's back on”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from tergum (“back, hind”) + versor (“to turn”). Compare French tergiverser.

Questions about tergiversate

What does tergiversate mean?
Tergiversate means to evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to obfuscate in a deliberate manner.
What is tergiversate in Bengali?
Tergiversate in Bengali is গোলমাল করা, এড়িয়ে যাওয়া, পক্ষ পরিবর্তন করা. See Tergiversate meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is tergiversate?
Tergiversate is a verb.
How do you pronounce tergiversate?
Tergiversate is pronounced /ˈtɜːd͡ʒɪvəseɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of tergiversate?
The past tense of tergiversate is tergiversated.

Words near tergiversate in the dictionary

  1. tergite
  2. tergites
  3. tergitic
  4. tergitol
  5. tergiversant
  6. tergiversate
  7. tergiversated
  8. tergiversates
  9. tergiversating
  10. tergiversation
  11. tergiversations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tergiversate (page history and authors); tergiversate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-tergiversate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “tergiversate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tergiversate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.