pretend Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the enactment of a pretense
    make-believe.
    • it was just pretend
  2. verb make believe with the intent to deceive
    affect; feign; dissemble; sham.
    • He feigned that he was ill
    • He shammed a headache
  3. verb behave unnaturally or affectedly
    dissemble; act.
    • She's just acting
  4. verb put forward a claim and assert right or possession of
    • pretend the title of King
  5. verb put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
    guess; hazard; venture.
    • I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again
    • I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong
  6. verb represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like
    make; make believe.
    • She makes like an actress
  7. verb state insincerely
    profess.
    • 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
  8. adjective satellite imagined as in a play
    make-believe.
    • the make-believe world of theater
    • play money
    • dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish

WordNet

Pre*tend" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. prétendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See Tend, v. t.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Pretended; present participle & verbal noun Pretending
Definitions
  1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
    Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. Dryden.
  2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. R.
    Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. Milton.
  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.
    This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal. Milton.
  4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. Obs.
    Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state. Shak.
  5. To hold before one; to extend. Obs. "His target always over her pretended." Spenser.
Pre*tend" intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.
    For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well. Chaucer.
  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.

Webster 1913