Showing results for "pretended"

• past tense form of pretend.
• past participle of pretend.

pretended

American  

[pri-ten-did] / prɪˈtɛn dɪd /

adjective

1. insincerely or falsely professed.

   a pretended interest in art.

2. feigned, fictitious, or counterfeit.

   His pretended wealth was proved to be nonexistent.

3. alleged or asserted; reputed.

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Other Word Forms

• self-pretended
  adjective
• unpretended
  adjective
• pretendedly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of pretended

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at pretend, -ed ²

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pretended

He slipped on the back steps last winter, and we both pretended it didn’t scare us, but he could have just as easily slipped on another stairwell.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026

"I am the man you left for dead. I am the one you pretended never existed," he declares.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Then he headed back to barracks, where he sat with the surviving troops and pretended he had suffered a concussion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Also this year, Cohen’s press officer secretly was recorded by a woman who pretended to be on a date with him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Coal pretended to have made the team and went to every practice, but instead he took his sketch pad out and started drawing on the side of the field.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

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