pretend
to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness; to pretend that nothing is wrong.
to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign: to pretend to go to sleep.
to make believe: The children pretended to be cowboys.
to presume; venture: I can't pretend to say what went wrong.
to allege or profess, especially insincerely or falsely: He pretended to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.
to make believe.
to lay claim to (usually followed by to): She pretended to the throne.
to make pretensions (usually followed by to): He pretends to great knowledge.
Obsolete. to aspire, as a suitor or candidate (followed by to).
Informal. make-believe; simulated; counterfeit: pretend diamonds.
Origin of pretend
1synonym study For pretend
Other words for pretend
Words that may be confused with pretend
- portend, pretend
Words Nearby pretend
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pretend in a sentence
Let’s pretend that politicians wake up and don’t reopen restaurants and we avoid a big wave in March.
Why Opening Restaurants Is Exactly What the Coronavirus Wants Us to Do | Caroline Chen | February 6, 2021 | ProPublicaAfter a certain point, you can’t even pretend that you have control.
We should not pretend that the Facebook Oversight Board is more than a McGuffin designed to distract us from serious issues.
Facebook's "Oversight Board" Is a Sham. The Answer to the Capitol Riot Is Regulating Social Media | Maria Ressa | January 28, 2021 | TimeIt’s terrible, and you constantly have to pretend you like it.
Why You Don't Feel as Fulfilled From Your Job as You Think You Should | Eliana Dockterman | January 25, 2021 | TimeI wasn’t, but I pretended otherwise, just to see if Pennyroyal Station followed through on requests.
Like a good neighbor, Pennyroyal Station is there for you | Tom Sietsema | January 22, 2021 | Washington Post
For Kirke it was being paid to pretend to play the oboe that heightened her affair with classical music.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe irony has thinned with the economy, perhaps: Who can really afford just to pretend to DIY today?
Glenn Beck Is Now Selling Hipster Clothes. Really. | Ana Marie Cox | December 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSure, some parents would rather pretend their kids would never look at that stuff.
The Next Frontier of Sex Ed: How Porn Twists Teens’ Brains | Aurora Snow | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTQuickly, the lines between their pretend feelings for each other and their real ones are blurred.
Team Peeta or Team Gale: Why the ‘Hunger Games’ Love Triangle Ruins ‘Mockingjay – Part 1’ | Kevin Fallon | November 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOr: “Jazz: Just pretend you like it, that's what everyone else is doing.”
A quite young child will, for example, pretend to do something, as to take an empty cup and carry out the semblance of drinking.
Children's Ways | James SullyI believe I murmured something suitable, but it was absurd to pretend to be overjoyed at the news.
Uncanny Tales | VariousThat my aspirations were satisfied I do not pretend, for ambition forbade any settled feeling of rest or content.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph TatlowI've only known Indian rivers for five and twenty years, and I don't pretend to understand.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingWe shall have to pretend to do some gun practice, and drop a shell on to its surface to find out.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian Hamilton
British Dictionary definitions for pretend
/ (prɪˈtɛnd) /
(when tr, usually takes a clause as object or an infinitive) to claim or allege (something untrue)
(tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to make believe, as in a play: you pretend to be Ophelia
(intr foll by to) to present a claim, esp a dubious one: to pretend to the throne
(intr foll by to) obsolete to aspire as a candidate or suitor (for)
fanciful; make-believe; simulated: a pretend gun
Origin of pretend
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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