pretended
Americanadjective
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insincerely or falsely professed.
a pretended interest in art.
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feigned, fictitious, or counterfeit.
His pretended wealth was proved to be nonexistent.
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alleged or asserted; reputed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of pretended
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at pretend, -ed 2
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.
Dad pretended nothing had gone wrong, which felt worse than being chewed out.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
“He looks like Eliot Ness,” the president declared of his veep in a televised Cabinet meeting in May while high-level administration officials pretended to laugh.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
Our translator rang the number and pretended to be a would-be migrant who had the money to fly his whole family to the UK.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
But as Hull wrote: “Spirit Airlines wasn’t perfect. But it was safe, and it never pretended to be something it wasn’t.”
From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026
I slid to the back of the room and pretended I belonged.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
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.
