dissimulate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing dissimulate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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The Prince
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Dogs have this immense advantage over man that they cannot dissimulate, and Talleyrand's paradox that speech has been given us in order to conceal our thoughts, cannot at all be applied to dogs.
From Vagaries by Munthe, Axel
He was honest by nature and upright, but enough of a courtier to be able to dissimulate when he thought necessary: "A most charming lad," he replied.
From Majesty A Novel by Couperus, Louis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
