pretend
/pɹəˈtɛnd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.33 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
verb
To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
adj
Not really what it is represented as being; imaginary, feigned.
Example Sentences
- "You don't have to pretend that the soup tastes fine."
- "You don't have to pretend to like the soup."
- "If you don't like it, say so. You don't have to pretend."
- "To get into the club, he pretended to be over 18."
- ""After what past at Upton, so soon to engage in a new amour with another woman, while I fancied, and you pretended, your heart was bleeding for me!""
- "It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae- Proto-Indo-European *ten- Proto-Indo-European *tend- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *téndeti Proto-Italic *tendō Latin tendō Latin praetendōbor. Anglo-Norman pretendreder. English pretend From Anglo-Norman pretendre, Middle French pretendre (French prétendre (“to claim, demand”)), from Latin praetendere (“to put forward, hold out, pretend”), from prae- (“pre-”) + tendō (“stretch”); see tend.