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feign
[ feyn ]
verb (used with object)
- to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of:
to feign sickness.
- to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.
- to imitate deceptively:
to feign another's voice.
verb (used without object)
- to make believe; pretend:
She's only feigning, she isn't really ill.
feign
/ feɪn /
verb
- to put on a show of (a quality or emotion); pretend
to feign innocence
- tr to make up; invent
to feign an excuse
- tr to copy; imitate
to feign someone's laugh
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Derived Forms
- ˈfeigner, noun
- ˈfeigningly, adverb
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Other Words From
- feign·er noun
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Word History and Origins
Origin of feign1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of feign1
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
They cannot feign ignorance at the end of a journey that was ugly all along.
Give us a moment to feign excitement...TVLine Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy went trick-or-treating together.
And you have to possess a certain amount of humility—or at least try to feign it from time to time.
But anyone who can feign a relationship for 40 days can surely do it for one meal.
I could likely feign my way through a short story—a very short story—in Farsi.
Skilled physicians feign indifference to their calling that they may smack of the kennel and the hunting-field.
She answered coldly that she could not feign; indifferent she was to everything on earth, indifferent she always should be.
Knoblock's sincere indignation wins, and the secretary backs away from the bedroom as I plunge under the covers and feign sleep.
Something prompted Jack to lie still and feign sleep, while he kept his gaze on the man, who was looking fixedly at him.
In addition to the bedtime story, Peter found it necessary to feign great weariness in order to suggest a similar feeling in Pat.
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