feigned
[feynd]
- pretended; sham; counterfeit: feigned enthusiasm.
- assumed; fictitious: a feigned name.
- disguised: a feigned voice.
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Origin of feigned
feign
[feyn]
- 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.
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- to make believe; pretend: She's only feigning, she isn't really ill.
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Origin of feign
1250–1300; Middle English fei(g)nen < Old French feign-, present stem of feindre < Latin fingere to shape, invent, feign
Synonyms
See more synonyms for feign on Thesaurus.com4. See pretend.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for feigned
Contemporary Examples
She says she was released when she feigned acceptance of their dogma.
In the new world order where every diner is a critic, there is a lot of feigned expertise.
What serves as a point of departure in Prague is the defining obsession of The Tragedy of Arthur: what is real, what feigned?
When Barbara Walters shut him down, he feigned hurt feelings and curled up on Rosie O'Donnell's lap.
He feigned nonchalance; just a couple neighborhood kids messing around, he said, nothing to worry about.
Historical Examples
There was nothing forced nor feigned in these testimonials of loyalty to George the Second.
Old NewsNathaniel Hawthorne
James Osborne, the youthful cashier, feigned complete paralysis.
DustMr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
In order to prevent running, I feigned illness, too, and went to another.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
So surely as she came into the room, however, Martin feigned to fall asleep.
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
I asked, in feigned surprise, for I could not resist tormenting her a little.
The Prisoner of ZendaAnthony Hope
feign
- to put on a show of (a quality or emotion); pretendto feign innocence
- (tr) to make up; inventto feign an excuse
- (tr) to copy; imitateto feign someone's laugh
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French feindre to pretend, from Latin fingere to form, shape, invent
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for feigned
feign
v.
c.1300, from Old French feign-, present participle stem of feindre "pretend, represent, imitate, shirk" (12c.), from Latin fingere "to touch, handle; devise; fabricate, alter, change" (see fiction). Related: Feigned; feigning.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper