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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

feign

–verb (used with object)

1.	to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of: to feign sickness.

2.	to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.

3.	to imitate deceptively: to feign another's voice.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to make believe; pretend: She's only feigning, she isn't really ill.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME fei(g)nen < OF feign-, present s. of feindre < L fingere to shape, invent, feign

]

—Related forms

feigner, noun

feign·ing·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 4. See pretend.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
feign

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

feign Audio Help   (fān) Pronunciation Key
v.   feigned, feign·ing, feigns

v.   tr.

1. To give a false appearance of: feign sleep.
2. To represent falsely; pretend to: feign authorship of a novel.
To imitate so as to deceive: feign another's voice.
To fabricate: feigned an excuse.
Archaic To invent or imagine.

v. intr.
To pretend; dissemble.

[Middle English feinen, from Old French feindre, from Latin fingere, to shape, form; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
feign

1300, from O.Fr. feign-, pres. stem of feindre "pretend, shirk," from L. fingere "devise, fabricate," originally "to shape, invent, to form," from PIE base *dheigh- "to form, shape."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

feign
verb
1.	make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"
2.	make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: simulate]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) - Cite This Source - Share This
feign [fein] verb

to pretend to feel
Example: He feigned illness.

Arabic:	يَدَّعي، يَتَظاهَر أنَّه يَشْعُر
Chinese (Simplified):	假装
Chinese (Traditional):	假裝
Czech:	předstírat
Danish:	foregive; simulere
Dutch:	veinzen
Estonian:	teesklema
Finnish:	teeskennellä
French:	faire semblant (de)
German:	heucheln
Greek:	προσποιούμαι, προφασίζομαι
Hungarian:	színlel
Icelandic:	gera sér upp, láta líta út fyrir
Indonesian:	berpura-pura
Italian:	fingere, simulare

Japanese:	～のふりをする
Korean:	가장하다
Latvian:	izlikties; simulēt
Lithuanian:	apsimesti
Norwegian:	late som om, simulere, hykle
Polish:	symulować
Portuguese (Brazil):	fingir
Portuguese (Portugal):	fingir
Romanian:	a simula
Russian:	притворяться
Slovak:	predstierať
Slovenian:	hliniti
Spanish:	fingir
Swedish:	låtsa, simulera
Turkish:	numara, *yalandan yapmak

See also: feigned

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Dough\, n. [OE. dagh, dogh, dow, AS. d[=a]h; akin to D. deeg, G. teig, Icel. deig, Sw. deg, Dan. deig, Goth. daigs; also, to Goth. deigan to knead, L. fingere to form, shape, Skr. dih to smear; cf. Gr. ? wall, ? to touch, handle. ?. Cf. Feign, Figure, Dairy, Duff.]

1. Paste of bread; a soft mass of moistened flour or meal, kneaded or unkneaded, but not yet baked; as, to knead dough.

2. Anything of the consistency of such paste.

To have one's cake dough. See under Cake.

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Feign

Ef"fi*gy\, n.; pl. Effigies. [L. effigies, fr. effingere to form, fashion; ex + fingere to form, shape, devise. See Feign.] The image, likeness, or representation of a person, whether a full figure, or a part; an imitative figure; -- commonly applied to sculptured likenesses, as those on monuments, or to those of the heads of princes on coins and medals, sometimes applied to portraits.

To burn, or To hang, in effigy, to burn or to hang an image or picture of a person, as a token of public odium.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Faint\ (f[=a]nt), a. [Compar. Fainter (-[~e]r); superl. Faintest.] [OE. feint, faint, false, faint, F. feint, p. p. of feindre to feign, suppose, hesitate. See Feign, and cf. Feint.]

1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.

2. Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly; dejected; depressed; as, "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady." --Old Proverb.

3. Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.

4. Performed, done, or acted, in a weak or feeble manner; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy; slight; as, faint efforts; faint resistance.

The faint prosecution of the war. --Sir J. Davies.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Feign\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feigned; p. pr. & vb. n. Feigning.] [OE. feinen, F. feindre (p. pr. feignant), fr. L. fingere; akin to L. figura figure,and E. dough. See Dough, and cf. Figure, Faint, Effigy, Fiction.]

1. To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or actual; to imagine; to invent; hence, to pretend; to form and relate as if true.

There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. --Neh. vi. 8.

The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. --Shak.

2. To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness. --Shak.

3. To dissemble; to conceal. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Feint\, a. [F. feint, p. p. of feindre to feign. See Feign.] Feigned; counterfeit. [Obs.]

Dressed up into any feint appearance of it. --Locke.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Fic"tion\, n. [F. fiction, L. fictio, fr. fingere, fictum to form, shape, invent, feign. See Feign.]

1. The act of feigning, inventing, or imagining; as, by a mere fiction of the mind. --Bp. Stillingfleet.

2. That which is feigned, invented, or imagined; especially, a feigned or invented story, whether oral or written. Hence: A story told in order to deceive; a fabrication; -- opposed to fact, or reality.

The fiction of those golden apples kept by a dragon. --Sir W. Raleigh.

When it could no longer be denied that her flight had been voluntary, numerous fictions were invented to account for it. --Macaulay.

3. Fictitious literature; comprehensively, all works of imagination; specifically, novels and romances.

The office of fiction as a vehicle of instruction and moral elevation has been recognized by most if not all great educators. --Dict. of Education.

4. (Law) An assumption of a possible thing as a fact, irrespective of the question of its truth. --Wharton.

5. Any like assumption made for convenience, as for passing more rapidly over what is not disputed, and arriving at points really at issue.

Syn: Fabrication; invention; fable; falsehood.

Usage: Fiction, Fabrication. Fiction is opposed to what is real; fabrication to what is true. Fiction is designed commonly to amuse, and sometimes to instruct; a fabrication is always intended to mislead and deceive. In the novels of Sir Walter Scott we have fiction of the highest order. The poems of Ossian, so called, were chiefly fabrications by Macpherson.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Fig"ment\, n. [L. figmentum, fr. fingere to form, shape, invent, feign. See Feign.] An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined.

Social figments, feints, and formalism. --Mrs. Browning.

It carried rather an appearance of figment and invention . . . than of truth and reality. --Woodward.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feign

Fig"ure\ (?; 135), n. [F., figure, L. figura; akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. See Feign.]

1. The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.

Flowers have all exquisite figures. --Bacon.

2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modeling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble.

A coin that bears the figure of an angel. --Shak.

3. A pattern in cloth, paper, or other manufactured article; a design wrought out in a fabric; as, the muslin was of a pretty figure.

4. (Geom.) A diagram or drawing; made to represent a magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a surface or space inclosed on all sides; -- called superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when inclosed by surface; any arrangement made up of points, lines, angles, surfaces, etc.

5. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or carrer of a person; as, a sorry figure.

I made some figure there. --Dryden.

Gentlemen of the best figure in the county. --Blackstone.

6. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show.

That he may live in figure and indulgence. --Law.

7. A character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc.

8. Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are estimated or sold at a low figure. [Colloq.]

With nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest figure. --Thackeray.

9. A person, thing, or action, conceived of as analogous to another person, thing, or action, of which it thus becomes a type or representative.

Who is the figure of Him that was to come. --Rom. v. 14.

10. (Rhet.) A mode of expressing abstract or immaterial ideas by words which suggest pictures or images from the physical world; pictorial language; a trope; hence, any deviation from the plainest form of statement.

To represent the imagination under the figure of a wing. --Macaulay.

11. (Logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.

12. (Dancing) Any one of the several regular steps or movements made by a dancer.

13. (Astrol.) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses. --Johnson.

14. (Music) (a) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression. --Grove. (b) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a musical or motive; a florid embellishment.

Note: Figures are often written upon the staff in music to denote the kind of measure. They are usually in the form of a fraction, the upper figure showing how many notes of the kind indicated by the lower are contained in one measure or bar. Thus, 2/4 signifies that the measure contains two quarter notes. The following are the principal figures used for this purpose: 2/22/42/8 4/22/44/8 3/23/43/8 6/46/46/8

Academy figure, Canceled figures, Lay figure, etc. See under Academy, Cancel, Lay, etc.

Figure caster, or Figure flinger, an astrologer. "This figure caster." --Milton.

Figure flinging, the practice of astrology.

Figure-of-eight knot, a knot shaped like the figure 8. See Illust. under Knot.

Figure painting, a picture of the human figure, or the act or art of depicting the human figure.

Figure stone (Min.), agalmatolite.

Figure weaving, the art or process of weaving figured fabrics.

To cut a figure, to make a display. [Colloq.] --Sir W. Scott.

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