Definition of Pretend

1. Noun. The enactment of a pretense. "It was just pretend"

Exact synonyms: Make-believe
Generic synonyms: Feigning, Pretence, Pretending, Pretense, Simulation
Derivative terms: Make Believe, Make-believe

2. Verb. Make believe with the intent to deceive. "He shammed a headache"

3. Adjective. Imagined as in a play. "Dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish"
Exact synonyms: Make-believe
Similar to: Unreal
Derivative terms: Make-believe, Make-believe

4. Verb. Behave unnaturally or affectedly. "She's just acting"
Exact synonyms: Act, Dissemble
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"
Generic synonyms: Arrogate, Claim, Lay Claim
Derivative terms: Pretender, Pretense, Pretension

6. Verb. Put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation. "I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong"
Exact synonyms: Guess, Hazard, Venture
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"
Exact synonyms: Make, Make Believe
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"
Exact synonyms: Profess
Generic synonyms: Claim

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

preteen
preteenage
preteenager
preteenagers
preteens
pretelecast
pretelescopic
pretelevision
pretell
pretelling
pretells
pretemporal
pretence
pretenceless
pretences
pretend (current term)
pretendant
pretendants
pretended
pretendedly
pretendence
pretendences
pretender
pretenders
pretendership
pretenderships
pretendeth
pretending
pretendingly
pretends

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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