Pretend

Definition: Pretend

Pretend

Adjective

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

Verb

1. Make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache".

2. Behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting".

3. Put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; "pretend the title of King".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "pretend" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Pretend \Pre*tend"\, transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Pretended; Pretending.]. (references)

Tips from 1870

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Pretend

Affirmation

Put forth, put forward; advance, allege, propose, propound, enunciate, broach, set forth, hold out, maintain, contend, pronounce, pretend.

Dissuasion

Verb: pretend, plead, allege; shelter oneself under the plea of; excuse; (vindicate); lend a color to; furnish a handle; Noun: make a pretext of, make a handle of; use as a plea; Noun: take one's stand upon, make capital out of, pretend; (lie).

Falsehood

Dissemble, dissimulate; feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe; play possum; play false, play a double game; coquet; act a part, play a part; affect; simulate, pass off for; counterfeit, sham, make a show of; malinger; say the grapes are sour.

Ignorance

See through a glass darkly; have a film over the eyes, have a glimmering; Noun: wonder whether; not know what to make of; (unintelligibility); not pretend to take upon, not take upon one self to say.

Crosswords: Pretend

I mean, I'm a wheelchair girl now. And it's hard to pretend that I'm a beautiful rock star (The Sweet Hereafter; writing credit: Atom Egoyan)

Just pretend you're a janitor (Notorious; writing credit: Ben Hecht)

It's like you can pretend everything's not quite the way it is. (The Blair Witch Project; writing credit: Daniel Myrick; Eduardo Sánchez)

Yeah. If I die, pretend I said something deep and clever (Hollow Man; writing credit: Gary Scott Thompson; Andrew W. Marlowe)

I'm gonna pretend you a man. A very beautiful man with a great body that I'd like to take to the movies (Rush Hour 2; writing credit: Jeff Nathanson)

Let's pretend we're married and go all night (LET'S PRETEND WE'RE MARRIED; performing artist: Tina Turner)

And to pretend ("Smells Like Teen Spirit"; performing artist: Nirvana)

Aw baby I can't pretend, aw baby I'm so far in (Rock Wit U(Awww Baby); performing artist: ASHANTI)

So why pretend ("The Thrill Is Gone"; performing artist: B.B. King)

Don't pretend you're sorry (Drowning; performing artist: Backstreet Boys)

If you don't want your children to hear what you're saying, pretend you're speaking directly to them. (references; author: unknown)

Let's Pretend (1920)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood (reference)

• Pretend I'm Not Here (reference)

• Pretend You Don't See Her (reference)

• The Surreal Gourmet: Real Food for Pretend Chefs (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Barney: Let's Pretend with Barney (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Let's Pretend (& More!), Volume 2 (reference)

• Pretend I'm Human [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference)

• Smithsonian Historical Performances: Let's Pretend (Spoken Word) (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Consumer Goods

• OXO Good Grips Uplift Teakettle, Pretend Green (reference)

  (more baby examples; more wireless phone examples; more garden examples; more kitchen examples; more tool examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Secondly, But this privilege, belonging only to the king's person, hinders not, but they may be questioned, opposed, and resisted, who use unjust force, though they pretend a commission from him, which the law authorizes not; as is plain in the case of him that has the king's writ to arrest a man, which is a full commission from the king; and yet he that has it cannot break open a man's house to do it, nor execute this command of the king upon certain days, nor in certain places, though this commission have no such exception in it; but they are the limitations of the law, which if any one transgress, the king's commission excuses him not: for the king's authority being given him only by the law, he cannot impower any one to act against the law, or justify him, by his commission, in so doing. (Second Treatise of Government)

For the rest, nothing is more ridiculous than the virtuous indignation of our bourgeois at the community of women which, they pretend, is to be openly and officially established by the Communists. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

I do not pretend to it.

So Sylvie and I had to share the soup between us, and to pretend to enjoy it, for it certainly was very queerly cooked

They pretend that this Vaugirard cemetery is going to be suppressed

Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any right

The pond rises and falls, but whether regularly or not, and within what period, nobody knows, though, as usual, many pretend to know

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Kegel exercises—exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles by squeezing and holding these muscles for 3 counts, and then relaxing them for 3. Repeat these for 5 minutes 3 times a day. To find your pelvic floor muscles try to stop the flow of urine while on the toilet or pretend you are trying to stop passing gas. Those are the muscles you want to exercise. (references)

Business

This report does not pretend to provide an extensive analysis of the market potential for equipment and services. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "pretend": not pretend to take upon ♦ pretend not to see ♦ pretend to ♦ pretend to be ♦ pretend to be ill ♦ pretend to be sick ♦ pretend to be wise ♦ pretend to the throne. Additional references.

Beginning with "pretend": pretend-mistress, pretend-nothing-serious-has-happened, pretend-tramp, pretend-writes.

Containing "pretend": i'll-pretend-i-didn't-hear-that.

Albanian

provoj (assay, attest, demonstrate, deprive, essay, establish, experience, fit on, make good, manifest, presume, prove, sample, savor, savour, show, substantiate, suffer, taste, test, try, try on, try out, validate, venture, witness), pretendoj (allege, assume, claim, profess), përpiqem (aim, attempt, bang, endeavor, endeavour, essay, exert, exert oneself, offer, seek, strive, take trouble, try), shtirem (affect, dissemble, dissimulate, feign, impersonate), hiqem (brush off, pose, work off), bëj gjoja (play). (various references)

Arabic 

‏تصنع (affectation, attitudinize, industrialize, make up, mannerism, mummery, pose, prim), ‏تجرأ (have the face to, presume, take heart), ‏تظاهر (affect, assume, counterfeit, demonstrate, dissemble, dissimulate, fake, feign, feint, make believe, march, pose, posture, pretence, put on, seem, sham, show, simulate, simulation), ‏زعم (allegation, allege, feign, pretence, say), ‏دعا على. (various references)

Bulgarian 

преструвам се (affect, dissemble, dissimulate, fake, feign, personate, profess, put it on, put on an act, sham, simulate), претендирам (claim, profess, purport), предявявам претенции (lay up claim), правя се (affect, profess), играя на уж, изявявам претенции. (various references)

Chinese 

紿 (bind, to fool), 佯 , 假装 (Disguised, Disguising, Feigned, guise, Pretended, Pretending), 假裝 (feign). (various references)

Czech

předstírat (affect, dissimulate, fake, feign, make believe, profess, sham, simulate), èinit si nároky. (various references)

Danish

foregive (feign, give as an excuse). (various references)

Dutch

voorwenden (feign, give as an excuse), voorgeven (feign, give as an excuse), doen alsof (feign, give as an excuse). (various references)

Esperanto

preteksti (give as an excuse), ŝajnigi (feign). (various references)

Faeroese

látast (feign, give as an excuse). (various references)

Farsi 

وانمودکردن (Affect, Assume, Dissemble, Fake, Look, Represent, Seem, Sham, Simulate), دعوی کردن (Quarrel, Sue), بخودبستن (Arrogate, Assume, Sham, Simulate). (various references)

Finnish

uskotella (make believe), teeskennellä (affect, assume an air of, be affected, dissemble, feign, make believe, simulate). (various references)

French

feindre. (various references)

Frisian

beare (feign). (various references)

German

vorgeben (allege, give as an excuse, Masquerade, profess, purport, sham, to pretend). (various references)

Greek 

προσποιούμαι (affect, feign, feint, make believe, make out, pretend to, sham, simulate). (various references)

Hebrew 

לעשות מעצמו, להתימר (boast, profess), להתאמר (be overproud, boast), להעמיד פנים (affect, dissimulate, feign, make believe, pose, sham, simulate), להראות פנים. (various references)

Hungarian

tettet (dissimulate, feign, make believe, to affect, to assume, to counterfeit, to feign, to pretend, to simulate), színlel (make believe, malinger, simulate, to affect, to feign, to pretend, to put on, to simulate, to take on), igényel (claim, demand, need, require, to call for, to claim, to demand, to need, to require, to want). (various references)

Icelandic

þykjast (feign). (various references)

Indonesian

pura-pura (affect, affection, illusive, mock, ostensible, pretended, quasi), membuat-buat, bikin-bikin (make up), berpura-pura (dissimulate). (various references)

Italian

pretendere (claim, exact, expect, purport, require, to claim), spacciare (peddle, push, sell, spread), simulare (affect, feign, malinger, mimic, sham, simulate), fingere (act, affect, assume, counterfeit, fake, feign, play, sham, simulate), aspirare (aspirate, aspire, breathe in, exhaust, inhale, suck, suck in, suck up). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

偽る (to cheat, to deceive, to falsify, to lie, to pretend). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

きめこむ (to assume, to pretend, to take for granted), しらをきる (to brazen it out, to feign ignorance, to play innocent, to pretend to be ignorant of), しょうする (to call oneself, to chant, to feign, to pretend, to purport, to read aloud, to recite, to take the name of), まじめくさる (to pretend to be earnest), ふれこむ (to announce, to herald, to pass off for, to pose as, to pretend to be), せをむける (to pretend not to see, to turn one's back on), かこつける (to pretend that, to use as an excuse), いつわる (to cheat, to deceive, to falsify, to lie, to pretend), ことよせる (to pretend), めをつぶる (to ignore, to pretend not to know, to shut one's eyes), やまいとしょうする (to feign illness, to pretend to be ill), みせかける (to feign, to pretend), てらう (to parade, to pretend, to show off). (various references)

Korean 

가장하십시요. (various references)

Manx

lhiggey er (affectation, affectedness, counterfeit, dissimulate, dissimulation, feign, feigning, feint, make-believe, pose, pretence, profess, sham, simulate, simulation), jannoo myr yien. (various references)

Norwegian

late som om (feign), late som (feign). (various references)

Pig Latin

etendpray.(various references)

Portuguese

simular (affect, assume, camouflage, counterfeit, feign, feint, make believe, palter, play-act, purport, put on, sham, simulate), pretextar (feign, give as an excuse, play-act, plead, pretext, sham), fingir (assume, attitudinize, counterfeit, dissemble, double, feign, feint, imitate, make believe, palter, play-act, pose, put on, sham, simulate), aparentar (appear to be, feign, play-act). (various references)

Romanian

pretinde (allege, assert, challenge, charge, claim, command, contend, exact, insist, maintain, make oneself out, make out, purport, require), pretexta (feign, pretext, sham), zice (affirm, call, declare, have, pronounce, put, read, recite, say, sing, tell, think), spune (call, declare, denounce, explain, name, pass, pronounce, propose, put, recite, relate, remark, say, speak, speak to, state, tell, utter), simula (act, affect, assume, dissemble, feign, imitate, make, make believe, malinger, play off, sham, simulate), se preface (adulterate, be pretending, dissemble, dissimulate, falsify, feign, kid, make believe, make pretence of, pose, show), invoca (allege, call down, conjure, invocate, invoke, plead, submit), afecta (affect, afflict, alter, appropriate, assume, concern, disorder, feign, grieve, sham, simulate, touch, trouble). (various references)

Romansch

pretender (to pretend). (various references)

Romany

keràv (to pretend). (various references)

Russian 

решиться, претендовать;притворяться, прикидываться. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

pretvarati se (feign, make as if to, make believe), praviti se, pozirati (attitudinize, fake, pose, sit). (various references)

Spanish

fingir (act, affect, dissemble, fake, feign, Fox, give as an excuse, make believe, make out, mint, sham, simulate). (various references)

Swedish

föregiva (allege). (various references)

Turkish

yapar gibi görünmek (let on, make as if to, make pretence of doing, make pretense of doing, play at, play on, play upon, sham), yalandan yapmak (feign, simulate), numarası yapmak (act, affect, feign, make a show of, play, simulate), numara yapmak (act, fake, make a show of, perform, sham), hak iddia etmek (arrogate to oneself, claim, demand, put in a claim for, stake out a claim), bahane etmek (plead). (various references)

Ukrainian

симулювати (simulate, swing the lead), осмілюватися, претендувати (challenge, purport, put in), прикидатися (affect, counterfeit, dissimulate, feign, profess, sham, simulate), посилатися на щось. (various references)

Welsh

ymhonni (lay claim to), honni (allege, assert, assume, profess), ffuantu (bluff, feign, sham), cymryd arno (affect, assume), cogio (bluff, cog, feign, sham). (various references)

confinxit, fictis, fictisque, fictorum, fictum, finctus, fingens, fingere, fingis, fingit, fingo, finxerat, finxit, fixerat, fixere, fixeris, fixeritis, fixerunt, fixi, fixit, mentiar, mentiatur, mentiemini, mentientes, mentientur, mentietur, mentimur, mentior, mentiri, mentita, mentiti, mentitur, mentitus, mentiuntur, praetexunt, simila, similare, similari, similasti, similatus, similem, similes, simula, simulans, simulantes, simularent, simularetur, simulas, simulata, simulator, simulaverant. (various references)

pretendre. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "pretend": pretended, pretendedly, pretender, pretenders, pretending, pretends. (additional references)

Words containing "pretend": unpretending. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Pretend" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Partindo, Pertunda, premeno, prepend, prested, prete, preted, preten, pretennd, pretens, pretexd, pretted, pritend, protandry, prytany, pwethent, retend. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: rented, repent, tender.

-2 letters: deter, ender, enter, peter, preed, preen, rente, terne, treed, treen, trend.

-3 letters: deep, deer, deet, dene, dent, dere, dree, erne, need, neep, nerd, peed, peen, peer, pend, pent, pert, pree, rede, reed, rend, rent, rete, teed, teen, tend, tern, tree.

-4 letters: dee, den, end, ere, ern, nee, net, ped, pee.

+1 letter: parented, pretends, repented, repetend.

+2 letters: encrypted, entrapped, interpled, partnered, patterned, pertained, portended, precedent, precented, prenticed, presented, president, pretended, pretender, preunited, prevented, protended, pteridine, repainted, repetends, replanted, reprinted, terpenoid, trepanned, trephined.

+3 letters: department, deportment, depressant, enraptured, interloped, interplead, interposed, outpreened, pedantries, pedestrian, penetrated, pentahedra, perennated, personated, precedents, predestine, preediting, preenacted, preprinted, presidents, pretenders, pretending, pretrained, pteridines, redemption, respondent, rinderpest, splintered, tenpounder, terpenoids, trapnested, uncarpeted, unparented, unreported, untempered.