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Definition of Pretend
1. Adjective. Imagined as in a play. "Dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish"
2. Verb. Make believe with the intent to deceive. "He shammed a headache"
Generic synonyms: Belie, Misrepresent
Related verbs: Make, Make Believe
Specialized synonyms: Play Possum, Take A Dive, Bull, Bullshit, Fake, Talk Through One's Hat, Mouth
Derivative terms: Dissembler, Dissembling, Feigning, Pretender, Pretending, Pretense, Pretense, Sham, Shammer, Shammer
3. Noun. The enactment of a pretense. "It was just pretend"
Generic synonyms: Feigning, Pretence, Pretending, Pretense, Simulation
Derivative terms: Make Believe, Make-believe
4. Verb. Behave unnaturally or affectedly. "She's just acting"
Related verbs: Act, Behave, Do
Specialized synonyms: Assume, Feign, Sham, Simulate
Derivative terms: Act, Pretender
5. Verb. Put forward a claim and assert right or possession of. "Pretend the title of King"
6. Verb. Put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation. "I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong"
Specialized synonyms: Anticipate, Call, Forebode, Foretell, Predict, Prognosticate, Promise, Surmise, Suspect
Generic synonyms: Speculate
Derivative terms: Guess, Guess, Guesser, Guessing, Hazard
7. Verb. Represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like. "She makes like an actress"
Related verbs: Affect, Dissemble, Feign, Sham
Specialized synonyms: Go Through The Motions
Generic synonyms: Act, Play, Represent
Derivative terms: Make-believe
8. Verb. State insincerely. "She pretends to be an expert on wine"
Definition of Pretend
1. v. t. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
2. v. i. To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to.
Definition of Pretend
1. Verb. To claim, allege, especially when falsely or as a form of deliberate deception. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹
2. Verb. To feign, affect (a state, quality etc.). (defdate from 15th c.) ¹
3. Verb. To lay claim (term to) (an ability, status, advantage etc.). (defdate from 15th c.) ¹
4. Verb. To make oneself appear (term to) do or be doing something; to engage in make-believe. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Pretend
1. to assume or display a false appearance of [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Pretend
Literary usage of Pretend
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert: Embracing Romances, Travels by Gustave Flaubert, Ferdinand Brunetière (1904)
"He thought it a prudent course to invent a story —to pretend that he was swayed
by a passion. He manufactured some circumstantial details. ..."
2. The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura (1906)
"decoration being entirely different from those of the West. The tea-room (the
Sukiya) does not pretend to ..."
3. The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura (1906)
"decoration being entirely different from those of the West. v The tea-room (the
Sukiya) does not pretend to be other than a mere cottage —a straw hut, ..."
4. Kant's Kritik of Judgment by Immanuel Kant (1892)
"None of the above systems give what they pretend What do all these systems desire ?
They desire to explain our teleological judgments about nature, ..."
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