pretend
verb
\
Definition of pretend
(Entry 1 of 2)
pretend
adjectiveDefinition of pretend (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for pretend
Synonyms: Verb
dissemble, dissimulate, let on, make out
Synonyms: Adjective
artificial, bogus, dummy, ersatz, factitious, fake, false, faux, imitation, imitative, man-made, mimic, mock, sham, simulated, substitute, synthetic
Antonyms: Adjective
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Examples of pretend in a Sentence
Verb
He had a big stain on his shirt, but I pretended not to notice. The children pretended to be asleep. She looked like she was enjoying the party but she was just pretending. It was a mistake, and to pretend otherwise would be foolish. The children were pretending to be animals. He pretended to make a phone call. Let's just pretend for a moment. I'm your boss. What would you say to me?Adjective
The children played on a pretend train. if you were to see the movie's pretend jewels in real life, you wouldn't be fooled for a minute
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
There are teams in this league that would go completely dark for a period of time before awkwardly reemerging and pretending like nothing ever happened. — Conor Orr, SI.com, "Colts Aren’t Letting Andrew Luck’s Retirement Drag Them Down," 27 Aug. 2019 Dunn reached for his waistband and pretended to have a weapon, police reports say. — Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com, "Man who ‘hit it big’ at casino robbed outside downtown Cleveland restaurant, police say," 26 Aug. 2019 Some 750,000 children were soon running around their neighborhoods pretending to launch nuclear explosions in all directions. — Garrett M. Graff, WIRED, "America's Decades-Old Obsession With Nuking Hurricanes (and More)," 26 Aug. 2019 Carl Reiner mugs for the paparazzi, pretending to eat Bea Arthur’s face. — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, "A Rediscovered Archive from California in the Seventies," 24 Aug. 2019 Or maybe crinkling paper, sorting a thimble collection, or pretending to give the viewer an ear exam? — Craig Richard, BostonGlobe.com, "The blissful and bizarre world of ASMR," 16 Aug. 2019 In surveillance photographs released by the FBI, the man appeared to be smiling while speaking to the teller, and talking — or pretending to talk — on a cellphone pressed to his right ear. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "SDPD, FBI investigating robbery at bank near College Area," 15 Aug. 2019 Fans of the show will remember that Theon pretended to kill Bran and Rickon (Art Parkinson) in order to gain power over the Stark’s castle, Winterfell. — Ashley Boucher, PEOPLE.com, "Alfie Allen Reveals How Game of Thrones Creators Pranked Him with Fake Script — and How It Backfired," 14 Aug. 2019 No one equipped to stem the MAGA tide would pretend otherwise. — Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, The New Republic, "The Destructive Politics of White Amnesia," 6 Aug. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Everyone assumed that people would have some fun playing around with a pretend currency for a year or two and then move on. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Remember Dogecoin? The joke currency soared to $2 billion this weekend," 8 Jan. 2018 Trump has also probably accomplished more pretend truck-driving than any of his predecessors. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump: 48 Senate Votes for Trumpcare ‘Impressive by Any Standard’," 18 July 2017 In March, GGP said part of the space currently occupied by Sears will be filled by KidZania, a children's entertainment business with miniature cities where kids can play at pretend jobs. — Lauren Zumbach, chicagotribune.com, "Sears temporarily closing Oakbrook Center store," 20 June 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pretend.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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