pretended
[pri-ten-did]
- insincerely or falsely professed: a pretended interest in art.
- feigned, fictitious, or counterfeit: His pretended wealth was proved to be nonexistent.
- alleged or asserted; reputed.
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Origin of pretended
pretend
[pri-tend]
- to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness; to pretend that nothing is wrong.
- to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign: to pretend to go to sleep.
- to make believe: The children pretended to be cowboys.
- to presume; venture: I can't pretend to say what went wrong.
- to allege or profess, especially insincerely or falsely: He pretended to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.
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- to make believe.
- to lay claim to (usually followed by to): She pretended to the throne.
- to make pretensions (usually followed by to): He pretends to great knowledge.
- Obsolete. to aspire, as a suitor or candidate (followed by to).
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- Informal. make-believe; simulated; counterfeit: pretend diamonds.
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Origin of pretend
Synonyms
See more synonyms for pretend on Thesaurus.com1. simulate, fake, sham, counterfeit. Pretend, affect, assume, feign imply an attempt to create a false appearance. To pretend is to create an imaginary characteristic or to play a part: to pretend sorrow. To affect is to make a consciously artificial show of having qualities that one thinks would look well and impress others: to affect shyness. To assume is to take on or put on a specific outward appearance, often (but not always) with intent to deceive: to assume an air of indifference. To feign implies using ingenuity in pretense, and some degree of imitation of appearance or characteristics: to feign surprise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pretended
Contemporary Examples
Hannigan pretended to be a basketball pro in order to impress a hot guy she had a crush on—only she had never played basketball.
Our Pashto interpreter explained how he had pretended to be a Pakistani policeman when interested crowds approached the compound.
When he stopped by with the mail, he smiled, and we all pretended things were normal.
I offered him my hand in congratulation, and he seized and shook it like the good-natured fool he was—or pretended to be.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
I pretended to be a 35-year-old man from Kansas with a spouse and child.
Historical Examples
She pretended that at first she took young Bines for what we all took him, an employee of the mine.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Her mother laughed merrily, and pretended to box her daughter's ears.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
And he pretended he had got it, and read me such a beautiful letter from his mother!
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
"You've always said she hadn't, and pretended to be glad of it; I won't contradict," I returned.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
I did not love you; I do not think I have pretended to love you.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
pretend
- (when tr, usually takes a clause as object or an infinitive) to claim or allege (something untrue)
- (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to make believe, as in a playyou pretend to be Ophelia
- (intr foll by to) to present a claim, esp a dubious oneto pretend to the throne
- (intr foll by to) obsolete to aspire as a candidate or suitor (for)
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- fanciful; make-believe; simulateda pretend gun
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin praetendere to stretch forth, feign, from prae in front + tendere to stretch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pretended
adj.
mid-15c., "so-called," past participle adjective from pretend (v.).
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pretend
v.
late 14c., "to profess, assert, maintain" (a claim, etc.), "to direct (one's) efforts," from Old French pretendre "to lay claim," from Latin praetendere "stretch in front, put forward, allege," from prae "before" (see pre-) + tendere "to stretch," from PIE root *ten- "to stretch" (see tend).
Main modern sense of "feign, put forward a false claim" is recorded from c.1400; the older sense of simply "to claim" is behind the string of royal pretenders (1690s) in English history. Meaning "to play, make believe" is recorded from 1865. In 17c. pretend also could mean "make a suit of marriage for," from a sense in French. Related: Pretended; pretending.
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pretend
n.
"fact of pretending," 1888, from children's talk, from pretend (v.). Earlier in same sense was verbal noun pretending (1640s).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper