pretend Hear it!

pretend Definition

pre·tend (prē tend′, pri-)

transitive verb

  1. to claim; profess; allege to pretend ignorance of the law
  2. to claim or profess falsely; feign; simulate to pretend anger
  3. to make believe, as in play to pretend to be astronauts

Etymology: ME pretenden, to intend < MFr pretendre < L praetendere, to hold forth, allege < prae-, before + tendere, to stretch: see thin

intransitive verb

  1. to lay claim to pretend to a throne
  2. to make believe in play or in an attempt to deceive; feign

adjective

Informal make-believe pretend jewelry

pretend Synonyms

pretend

v.

  1. To feign

    feign, affect, simulate, claim falsely, profess, make a pretense, imitate, assume, counterfeit, fake, sham, make as if, make as though, dissimulate, dissemble, mislead, pass oneself off, pose, impersonate, bluff, be hypocritical, purport, allege, make a show of, put on airs, put on*, let on*, make like*, go through the motions*, sail under false colors*, keep up appearances*, put up a front*, put on an act*, play possum*; see also deceive.

  2. To make believe

    mimic, fill a role, take a part, represent, portray, make out like, play, make as if, make as though, make believe, create, imagine, invent, act the part of, act a part, playact, put on an act*; see also sense 1, act 3, imitate 2, impersonate, reproduce 2.

pretend and feign both imply a profession or display of what is false, the more literary feign sometimes suggesting an elaborately contrived situation to pretend not to hear, to feign deafness; assume implies the putting on of a false appearance but suggests a harmless or excusable motive an assumed air of bravado; to affect is to make a show of being, having, using, wearing, etc., usually for effect to affect a British accent; simulate emphasizes the imitation of typical signs involved in assuming an appearance or characteristic not one's own to simulate interest

pretend Usage Examples

Object

  • ignorance: Then go to God and do not pretend ignorance, and say, " What shall we do?
  • everything: We were not sitting around pretending that everything in the garden was rosy.
  • nothing: The school pretended nothing was going on - I was to blame for everything.
  • relationship: Section 28 banned the " promotion " of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship by local authorities.
  • thing: They pretend things aren't carefully edited to make implications.

Used with why or when

  • that: Stick your fingers in your ears and sing if you want to, but don't pretend that 's not what you're doing.

Infinitive complement

  • believe: I refer, of course, to what Labor pretends to believe are the Government's plans for the National Health Service.
  • know: He couldn't pretend to know what was in her mind or heart or body any more.
  • understand: She pretended to understand, in order not to appear ignorant.
  • listen: Tony Blair would not even have to pretend to listen to anybody but an inner circle of rich men and toadies.
  • ignore: And it's utterly impossible for you to aid me abc news in the slightest, except by pretending to ignore it.
  • forget: You pretend to forget what comes next in the trick?

Modifies a noun

  • play: Suitable small world figures are valuable play resources as older toddlers and twos develop more sophisticated pretend play.
  • nothing: First, you can " flee " or somehow hide away and pretend nothing is happening.

Modifying Another Word

  • otherwise: To pretend otherwise is a delusion which can only make matters worse.
  • merely: Young children know immediately when adults are merely pretending to be interested.
  • n't: I do n't pretend I can solve all the problems Britain faces.
  • just: Advice for newbies: just pretend you aren't one.
  • not: He does not pretend he has never been in trouble.
pretend Quotes

   There ain't twelve hundred people in the world who understand pictures. The others pretend and don't care.

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

The great and almost onlycomfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised.

—Stark, Dame Freya Madeleine

   Thosewhotalk most abouttheblessings of marriageand the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the claim were broken and the prisoners were left free to choose, the whole social fabric would flyasunder.Youcan't havetheargument both ways.Ifthe prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?

—Shaw, George Bernard