pretend

[pre·tend]

To pretend is to act as if you're someone else. If you pretend to be your mother for a phone conference with your math teacher, try putting on her high heels to help you get into character.

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To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

Noun
the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend"

Verb
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"

Verb
make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"

Verb
represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like; "She makes like an actress"

Verb
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"

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Verb
behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She''s just acting"

Verb
put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; "pretend the title of King"

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

v. t.
To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

v. t.
To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.

v. t.
To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.

v. t.
To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.

v. t.
To hold before one; to extend.

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.

v. i.
To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep.

Pretend

Pre*tend" , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pretended; p. pr. & vb. n. Pretending.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. pr'82tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See Tend, v. t. ] 1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.

2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. [R.]

Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them.

3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.

This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal.

4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]

Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state.

5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always over her pretended." Spenser.

Pretend

Pre*tend", v. i. 1. 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. "Countries that pretend to freedom." Swift.

For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well.

2. To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep. "[He] pretended to drink the waters." Macaulay.

To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

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.

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Usage Examples

I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.

Always keep that happy attitude. Pretend that you are holding a beautiful fragrant bouquet.

I do not pretend to know precisely what is on foot there but I think it pretty evident that there is a very free communication between that country and this body, and unless I am greatly mistaken, I see the dwarfish medium by which that communication is kept up.

I know a lot of people dread going to work every morning, but my work is playing pretend and doing stunts and screaming. It's a lot of fun and I get to play dress up. Every day is exciting and different and new and cool. I couldn't be more grateful.

I don't need to go onto Facebook and pretend to have friends I've never even met. To my mind, that kind of destroys the meaning of the word 'friend.' I take exception to that. Because I value and respect friendship.

I question myself every day. That's what I still find motivating about this. I don't have the answers, I don't pretend that I do just because I won the match. Just keep fighting and maybe something good happens.

I don't pretend to understand the Universe - it's a great deal bigger than I am.

I hope that Facebook and other Internet technologies were able to help people, just like we hope that we help them communicate and organize and do whatever they want to every single day, but I don't pretend that if Facebook didn't exist, that this wouldn't even be possible. Of course, it would have.

Misspelled Form

pretend, opretend, 0pretend, lpretend, oretend, 0retend, lretend, poretend, p0retend, plretend, peretend, p4retend, p5retend, ptretend, pfretend, peetend, p4etend, p5etend, ptetend, pfetend, preetend, pr4etend, pr5etend, prtetend, prfetend, prwetend, pr3etend, pr4etend, prretend, prsetend, prdetend, prwtend, pr3tend, pr4tend, prrtend, prstend, prdtend, prewtend, pre3tend, pre4tend, prertend, prestend, predtend, prertend, pre5tend, pre6tend, preytend, pregtend, prerend, pre5end, pre6end, preyend, pregend, pretrend, pret5end, pret6end, pretyend, pretgend, pretwend, pret3end, pret4end, pretrend, pretsend, pretdend, pretwnd, pret3nd, pret4nd, pretrnd, pretsnd, pretdnd, pretewnd, prete3nd, prete4nd, preternd, pretesnd, pretednd, pretebnd, pretehnd, pretejnd, pretemnd, prete nd, pretebd, pretehd, pretejd, pretemd, prete d, pretenbd, pretenhd, pretenjd, pretenmd, preten d, pretensd, pretened, pretenfd, pretenxd, pretencd, pretens, pretene, pretenf, pretenx, pretenc, pretends, pretende, pretendf, pretendx, pretendc.

Other Usage Examples

Flying back from New York, the flight attendant said 'God, I wished you were here yesterday, we had a stroke on the plane. I said, if I have a stroke on a plane, I hope the pretend doctor isn't the one on the plane. I want a real doctor.

I am an actor and I live in the world of pretend in my working capacity. I live in the world of my imagination.

I am an agnostic I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.

I kind of realize that I have a tendency to choose the kind of films I watched when I was a kid and would go home and pretend with my friends that we were in those movies after we saw them.

Even the people who have had success and made money writing these books of fiction seem to feel the need to pretend it's no big deal, or part of a natural progression from poetry to fiction, but often it's really just about the money, the perceived prestige.

I couldn't be in a relationship and behave like somebody else or pretend I felt something I didn't feel. And that includes saying things I thought might jeopardize the relationship.

I guess we've had a very close relationship because I don't pretend to know about cinema and I think I do know a bit about theatre but he does, he respected that and so we really just had a collaboration which went completely like this.

Even if you're unhappy, just pretend that you're happy. Eventually, your smile will be contagious to yourself. I had to learn that. I used to think, 'I'm being fake,' but you know what? Better to be fake and happy than real and miserable.