The verbs prevaricate and procrastinate have similar but not identical meanings. Prevaricate means 'act or speak in an evasive way'， as in he prevaricated at the mention of money. Procrastinate, on the other hand， means 'put off doing something'， as in the Western powers will procrastinate until it is too late. The meanings are closely related - if someone prevaricates they often also procrastinate - and this can give rise to confusion in use. In around 50 per cent of the citations in the Oxford Reading Programme for prevaricate the meaning could be either 'act evasively' or 'put off doing something'， or both， as for example in they may prevaricate before facing the brutal truth.