feign
Americanverb (used with object)
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to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of.
to feign sickness.
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to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.
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to imitate deceptively.
to feign another's voice.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to put on a show of (a quality or emotion); pretend
to feign innocence
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(tr) to make up; invent
to feign an excuse
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(tr) to copy; imitate
to feign someone's laugh
Synonym Usage
See pretend.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of feign
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English fei(g)nen, from Old French feign-, present stem of faindre, feindre, from Latin fingere “to feign, invent, shape”
Explanation
For a more formal way to say pretend to or imitate, choose the verb feign. You might feign indifference when you hear about some gossip, but you're probably dying to know. Feign comes from the Latin fingere, "to devise, fabricate." The word fiction comes from the same source, so if you feign something such as sleep, you give off the fiction that you are sleeping. This can be done to be polite but also to deceive such as when you feign an injury or the flu so you can stay home from school or work. You can also feign an accent, though some are better at this than others.
Vocabulary lists containing feign
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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Romeo and Juliet
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ASVAB Word Knowledge
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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.
“It’s almost laughable for the president of Mexico to feign ignorance” about CIA activities in Mexico, said Gilberto Gonzalez, a former DEA agent who worked here in the 1980s and 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026
The difference: Your guests won’t have to feign enthusiasm after the thirtieth photo of you “holding up” the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
Experts have previously warned the potential for AI chatbots to make things up, be overly-encouraging, and feign empathy can pose risks to young and vulnerable people.
From BBC • Oct. 29, 2025
But more recently, the narcissist has become a villain of personal and political narratives, a slimy creature that can only feign humanity, at least in the popular imagination.
From Slate • Jul. 23, 2025
She’d half expected, half hoped, that he would deny everything, feign surprise, maybe even outrage, at what she was implying.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
