put-on

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noun Informal.

an act or instance of putting someone on.

a prank or pretense, especially one perpetrated or assumed in mock seriousness; hoax; spoof.

affected manner or behavior; pretentiousness.

adjective

assumed, feigned, pretended, or disguised: a put-on manner that didn't fool anyone.

Origin:
1855–60; adj., noun use of verb phrase put (someone) on

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10

Put-on is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

WordNet

put-on
noun
1.	a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way
2.	something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage [syn: fraud]
3.	a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement [syn: antic]

Example sentences

And that's how people are listening to me, because they know it's not a put-on.

If not exactly a deliberate swindle, it is an endlessly repeated put-on, a shaggy-dog story without a punch line.

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