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feign

 - 3 dictionary results

feign

  [feyn]
Use feign in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To feign
feign   (fān)   
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.

  2. To imitate so as to deceive: feign another's voice.

  3. To fabricate: feigned an excuse.

  4. 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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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