pretend definition | Dictionary.com

pre⋅tend

[pri-tend]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness; to pretend that nothing is wrong.

2.	to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign: to pretend to go to sleep.

3.	to make believe: The children pretended to be cowboys.

4.	to presume; venture: I can't pretend to say what went wrong.

5.	to allege or profess, esp. insincerely or falsely: He pretended to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to make believe.

7.	to lay claim to (usually fol. by to): She pretended to the throne.

8.	to make pretensions (usually fol. by to): He pretends to great knowledge.

9.	Obsolete. to aspire, as a suitor or candidate (fol. by to).

–adjective

10.	Informal. make-believe; simulated; counterfeit: pretend diamonds.

Origin:
1325–75; ME pretenden < L praetendere to stretch forth, put forward, pretend. See pre-, tend ¹

Synonyms:
1. simulate, fake, sham, counterfeit. Pretend, affect, assume, feign imply an attempt to create a false appearance. To pretend is to create an imaginary characteristic or to play a part: to pretend sorrow. To affect is to make a consciously artificial show of having qualities that one thinks would look well and impress others: to affect shyness. To assume is to take on or put on a specific outward appearance, often (but not always) with intent to deceive: to assume an air of indifference. To feign implies using ingenuity in pretense, and some degree of imitation of appearance or characteristics: to feign surprise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pre·tend (prĭ-těnd')

v. pre·tend·ed, pre·tend·ing, pre·tends

v. tr.

To give a false appearance of; feign: "You had to pretend conformity while privately pursuing high and dangerous nonconformism" (Anthony Burgess).
To claim or allege insincerely or falsely; profess: doesn't pretend to be an expert.
To represent fictitiously in play; make believe: pretended they were on a cruise.
To take upon oneself; venture: I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong.

v. intr.

To feign an action or character, as in play.
To put forward a claim.
To make pretensions: pretends to gourmet tastes.

adj. Informal
Imitation; make-believe: pretend money; pretend pearls.

[Middle English pretenden, from Old French pretendre, from Latin praetendere : prae-, pre- + tendere, to extend; see ten- 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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Pretend

Pre*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pretended; p. pr. & vb. n. Pretending.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. pr['e]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See Tend, v. t. ]

1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. --Dryden.

2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. [R.]

Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. --Milton.

3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.

This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal. --Milton.

4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]

Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state. --Shak.

5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always over her pretended." --Spenser.

Pretend

Pre*tend"\, v. i. 1. To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to. "Countries that pretend to freedom." --Swift.

For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well. --Chaucer.

2. To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep. "[He] pretended to drink the waters." --Macaulay.

Language Translation for : pretend

Spanish: fingir, simular,

German: so tun als ob,

Japanese: ～だということにする

More Translations »

pretend

c.1380, "to profess or claim," from O.Fr. pretendre "to lay claim," from L. prætendere "stretch in front, put forward, allege," from præ- "before" + tendere "to stretch," from PIE base *ten- "to stretch" (see tend). Main modern sense of "feign, put forward a false claim" is recorded from 1412; the older sense of simply "to claim" is behind the string of royal pretenders (1697) in Eng. history. Meaning "to play, make believe" is recorded from 1865.

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