pretend

1. (intransitive or with 'that' clause or 'to' infinitive) To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.Examples: "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."Synonyms: make likeintransitive

2. (intransitive or with 'that' clause or 'to' infinitive) To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.Examples: "She moved her fingers across the desk, pretending to play the piano."; "She didn't have a real piano to play, so she just pretended."; ""The truth is, Ma'am," said Mrs. Grant, pretending to whisper across the table to Mrs. Norris, "that Dr. Grant hardly knows what the natural taste of our apricot is;[…].""Synonyms: make likeintransitive

3. (intransitive or with 'that' clause or 'to' infinitive) To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.Examples: "She's pretending illness to get out of the business meeting."; "This let him know, / Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend / Surprisal."; "Dropping one's anger and pretending indifference does not make one objective, only acceptable."Synonyms: make likeintransitivetransitive

4. (intransitive with 'to', formal, originally transitive) To lay claim (to an ability, status, advantage, etc.).Examples: "The family's exile was intended to stop them pretending to the throne."; "Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend."; "People observed the diversity of schools and the acerbity of their disputes, and decided that all alike were pretending to knowledge which was in fact unattainable."formalintransitive

5. (transitive, obsolete) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.Examples: "Lest that too heavenly form, pretended / To hellish falsehood, snare them."obsoletetransitive

6. (transitive, obsolete) To intend; to design, to plot; to attempt.Examples: "Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state."obsoletetransitive