[syn: make-believe, pretend]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pretended; p. pr. &
vb. n. Pretending.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F.
pr['e]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward,
pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch.
See Tend, v. t. ]
1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
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Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.
--Dryden.
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2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for
something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
[R.]
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Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
To hellish falsehood, snare them. --Milton.
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3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or
offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to
show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to
simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
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This let him know,
Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
Surprisal. --Milton.
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4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]
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Such as shall pretend
Malicious practices against his state. --Shak.
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5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always
over her pretended." --Spenser.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. i.
1. To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a
title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; --
usually with to. "Countries that pretend to freedom."
--Swift.
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For to what fine he would anon pretend,
That know I well. --Chaucer.
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2. To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or
performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to
sham; as, to pretend to be asleep. "[He] pretended to
drink the waters." --Macaulay.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pretend
adj 1: imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of
theater"; "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water
to catch pretend fish" [syn: make-believe, pretend]
n 1: the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend" [syn:
make-believe, pretend]
v 1: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that
he was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: feign, sham,
pretend, affect, dissemble]
2: behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" [syn:
dissemble, pretend, act]
3: put forward a claim and assert right or possession of;
"pretend the title of King"
4: put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation; "I
am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again";
"I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong" [syn: guess,
venture, pretend, hazard]
5: represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act
like; "She makes like an actress" [syn: make, pretend,
make believe]
6: state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted
his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide
bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine" [syn:
profess, pretend]