pretend

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[ US /pɹiˈtɛnd/ ]
[ UK /pɹɪtˈɛnd/ ]

VERB

make believe with the intent to deceive
He feigned that he was ill
He shammed a headache
put forward a claim and assert right or possession of
pretend the title of King
state insincerely
He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt
She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber
She pretends to be an expert on wine
represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like
She makes like an actress
put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again
I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong
behave unnaturally or affectedly
She's just acting

NOUN

ADJECTIVE

imagined as in a play
the make-believe world of theater
play money
dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish

Top Definitions Examples

How To Use pretend In A Sentence

Advertisers pretending to be private individuals will be liable to prosecution.
I do not pretend to know what combination of threats and cajolements they offered, but they obviously succeeded.
We'd better pretend to get prepared by pretending we have a super-duper laser beam bomb annihilator thingy. Hullabaloo
Stealing away, (whence, I suppose, the ironical phrase of trusty Trojan to this day,) like a thief — pretendedly indeed at the command of the gods; but could that be, when the errand he went upon was to rob other princes, not only of their dominions, but of their lives? — Clarissa Harlowe
His first impulse was to turn around and walk away, blank her out, pretend he hadn't even seen.
So I stare down at the pool table and pretend to study my opponent's next move.
But it means you get this style of performance across the board that is people inhabiting characters rather than pretending to be people. Times, Sunday Times
She blew out through her lips and pretended to fan herself.
Finally, a small number of participants discussed their experiences with gender-bending - that is, pretending to be of the opposite sex - during an online sexual encounter.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Kurt Vonnegut

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