pretend

Formspretends, pretending, pretended

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To take part in make-believe, acting out imagined situations as a game or for fun.

   Small children pretend constantly, turning sticks into swords and blankets into castles.

   When we were young, my sister and I would pretend for hours after school.

   Similarplayact, play

   Note

   Here nobody is meant to be fooled: make-believe is pretending the watcher is in on. In Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1814), Mrs. Grant is "pretending to whisper across the table," a mock-confidential show staged for the whole company. Duncan Campbell's 2003 Guardian report, of women "only pretending to be asleep," is the deceiving sense instead. The test is whether the pretense is shared.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To feign or affect a state or quality: to display feelings or attributes one does not actually have.

   She pretended confidence as she walked into the interview room.

   Skilled liars can pretend convincingly, so investigators look for small slips.

   Similarfeign, fake, affect, simulate

   Note

   In the transitive branch a noun names the faked state directly: pretend illness, pretend indifference, pretend ignorance. No to be is needed. Compare pretend to be ill. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) already has "pretend / Surprisal." The object is a state or quality worn on the outside. That separates it from the "lay claim" sense, where the noun follows to.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To speak or act in a manner that creates a false or simulated appearance.

   Politicians who pretend rather than engage honestly soon lose public trust.

   He kept pretending throughout dinner, hiding how angry he felt.

   Similardissemble, bluff, fake, pose

   Note

   Faking it, the everyday sense, comes in three constructions. It can take a that-clause (pretend that the soup tastes fine) or a to-infinitive (pretend to like the soup, pretended to be over 18). It can also stand with no complement at all (You don't have to pretend). Make like is a casual synonym. Learners should practice all three patterns, because none of them is the only right one.

4. 4
   adjective

   Imaginary or feigned; not genuinely what it appears or is claimed to be.

   The children set up a pretend shop and traded imaginary goods.

   His enthusiasm was entirely pretend, a performance to please the boss.

   Similarmake-believe, imaginary, fake, feigned, mock

   Oppositereal, genuine, authentic

   Note

   The adjective is not comparable: something is pretend or it is not, never more pretend. It works before a noun, as in a pretend shop. It also works after a verb, as in "it was all pretend," said of childhood spying missions around the neighbors' house. Its near neighbors are imaginary and feigned.

5. 5
   verbformalintransitive

   To lay claim to an ability, status, advantage, or similar entitlement.

   Two cousins pretend to the duchy, and the dispute may reach the courts.

   She would never pretend to expertise she had not earned.

   Similarclaim

   Note

   Claiming is the core here, in a formal register, built with to plus a noun: pretending to the throne. Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy (1946) has schools "pretending to knowledge." The verb was originally transitive; Dryden's The Medal (1682) has "the part which they pretend." Keep it apart from to plus a verb. Pretend to the throne claims it, while pretend to like something fakes. A pretender is a claimant.

6. 6
   nouncolloquialchildishuncountable

   The activity of make-believe: imaginative play in which someone acts out invented situations.

   Most of her childhood was happy hours of pretend with her younger brother.

   In therapy, pretend gives young patients a safe way to express big feelings.

   Similarmake-believe

   Note

   Children own this noun, and its home is the phrase play pretend, as in dressing up in grandparents' old clothes to play pretend. It is uncountable, so there is no a pretend or pretends. Outside that childish setting it sounds informal, and the verb of make-believe is the neutral choice.

Showing meanings only. Show all 9