dissimulate

American  

[dih-sim-yuh-layt] / dɪˈsɪm jəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

• dissimulates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dissimulated,
  past participle,  past
• dissimulating
  present participle

1. to disguise or conceal under a false appearance; dissemble.

   to dissimulate one's true feelings about a rival.

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verb (used without object)

• dissimulates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dissimulated,
  past participle,  past
• dissimulating
  present participle

1. to conceal one's true motives, thoughts, etc., by some pretense; speak or act hypocritically.

dissimulate British  

/ dɪˈsɪmjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to conceal (one's real feelings) by pretence

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dissimulation
  noun
• dissimulator
  noun
• dissimulative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dissimulating
  present
• dissimulated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dissimulate
  simple
• dissimulates
  simple
• have dissimulated
  perfect
• has dissimulated
  perfect
• am dissimulating
  progressive
• are dissimulating
  progressive
• is dissimulating
  progressive
• have been dissimulating
  perfect progressive
• has been dissimulating
  perfect progressive

Past

• dissimulated
  simple
• had dissimulated
  perfect
• was dissimulating
  progressive
• were dissimulating
  progressive
• had been dissimulating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dissimulate
  simple
• will have dissimulated
  perfect
• will be dissimulating
  progressive
• will have been dissimulating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dissimulate

First recorded in 1525–35, dissimulate is from the Latin word dissimulātus (past participle of dissimulāre to feign). See dis- ¹, simulate

Explanation

Your wife gave you socks for Christmas and you smiled happily and kissed her? You, my friend, know how to dissimulate — that is, cover up your true feelings. Unless you happen to really, really like socks. Sometimes confused with dissimilar, meaning "not alike", or "different," or a form of simulate, meaning "to pretend to do or feel something." Being able to dissimulate is a useful trick, not just if your wife gives you socks. After all, the whole political process depends on it. As Louis XI once said, "He who knows not how to dissimulate, can not reign." Wikipedia would probably agree with that.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dissimulate dissimulates dissimulated dissimulating

But the Gift’s double-sided sword–ness also justifies the regime’s turning of Wakanda into an encrypted nation, a nation projecting a simulated self in order to dissimulate.

From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2018

Aspirants to public office in the US may well dissimulate, but in a wide-open cultural landscape, with only the occasional ironic outcropping, there's hardly anywhere for them to hide.

From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2013

He knew how to dissimulate his intentions so well that the Orsini themselves, through Lord Paulo, reconciled themselves with him.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

She ridiculed this, piling up my plate in most scandalous style, inviting me not to dissimulate my true condition, but to eat as if she were not present.

From The Joy of Captain Ribot by Armando Palacio Vald?s

But Polly never could dissimulate, and she was too deeply hurt at her brother’s neglect to pretend to be merry.

From Polly in New York by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

I am certain she dissimulates her affection for you with greater care than you take to multiply proofs of yours for her.

From Life, Letters, and Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de L'Enclos The Celebrated Beauty of the Seventeenth Century by William Hassell Overton

Monk, who combines virtue with tact, dissimulates at first, then suddenly at the head of his troops dissolves the rebel parliament, and re-establishes the king on the throne.

From The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

At his age a man no longer dissimulates in his own family; he became more and more thoughtful, serious, and grieved as the hour approached when he would be forced to meet his civil death.

From The Alkahest by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Some hatred, weak and without self-confidence, or seeking the effect of surprise, is hypocritical, dissimulates, affects friendly feeling, rubs its hands over insults and awaits the opportune moment.

From The Foundations of Personality by Abraham Myerson

Other artists dissimulated their debts to French painting or let critics bury them.

From Time Magazine Archive

They had then dissimulated their hostility, in order to mislead their introducers.

From When Ghost Meets Ghost by William Frend De Morgan

So, shaken, afraid, they went back to her parents in the kitchen, and dissimulated.

From The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

By means of a trapdoor, whose mechanism was skilfully dissimulated among the ornaments of the cornice and ceiling, a mannikin, arrayed in the garb that was in progress, could be lowered for the empress's inspection.

From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 by Various

They proposed a great many ways, which they could not accomplish, but dissimulated all the time to flatter the queen with every demonstration of affection and respect.

From The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Milo Winter

I’m sure Vikram has a high IQ, but did not display good judgment in dissimulating to me.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026

Given this particular movie, she presumably also lectures on “Cyrano de Bergerac” and topics like the dissimulating heroine.

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021

She herself was dissimulating each day, biding her time until she could just get out.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 26, 2019

On the contrary, it is the very heart of society's real unreality, capable of infinitely executing itself, and endlessly dissimulating the absence of the real.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2018

Self-control and cool-headedness are above all necessary to aid in dissimulating impressions.

From Common Sense, How to Exercise It by Mme. Blanchard Yoritomo-Tashi