Word of the Day Archive
Monday December 29, 2003
dissimulate \dih-SIM-yuh-layt\ , transitive verb:
1. To conceal under a false appearance.
intransitive verb:
1. To hide one's feelings or intentions; to put on a false appearance; to feign; to pretend.
He was too drunk to attempt to dissimulate his loneliness.
-- Neil Gordon, The Gun Runner's Daughter
Her suffering was largely psychological and easily dissimulated.
-- George E. Delury, But What If She Wants to Die?
The dog cannot dissimulate, cannot deceive, cannot lie because he cannot speak.
-- Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele
Dissimulate comes from Latin dissimulare, "to conceal, to pretend that things are not as they are," from dis- + simulare, "to make like, to copy," from similis, "like." The noun form is dissimulation.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for dissimulate
