pretend

verb

1. (intransitive)To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.

   “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!"”

2. (intransitive)To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.

   “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;[…]."”

   “Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.”

3. (intransitive, transitive)To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.

   “She's pretending illness to get out of the business meeting.”

   “He pretended an air of indifference that he'd never assumed before.”

   “This let him know, / Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend / Surprisal.”

   “Dropping one's anger and pretending indifference does not make one objective, only acceptable.”

   “Gap and other clothes manufacturers should stop using small subcontractors because they are difficult to control. Instead, they should open up their own fully-owned production facilities so that they cannot pretend ignorance when abuses are committed.”

4. (formal, intransitive)To lay claim (to an ability, status, advantage, etc.).

   “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.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.

   “Lest that too heavenly form, pretended / To hellish falsehood, snare them.”

6. (obsolete, transitive)To intend; to design, to plot; to attempt.

   “Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state.”

7. (obsolete, transitive)To hold before one; to extend.

   “Pastorella […] Was by the Captaine all this while defended, / Who, minding more her safety then himselfe, / His target alwayes over her pretended[…].”

   “But had thoſe vvits the vvonders of their dayes, / Or that ſvveete Teian Poet [Anacreon] vvhich did ſpend / His plenteous vaine in ſetting forth her [Venus's] prayſe, / Seene but a glims of this, vvhich I pretend, / Hovv vvondrouſly vvould he her face commend, […]”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Not really what it is represented as being; imaginary, feigned.

   “As children we used to go on "spying" missions around the neighbour's house, but it was all pretend.”

noun

1. (childish, informal, uncountable)The act of engaging in pretend play.

   “We used to dress up in our grandparents' old clothes and play pretend.”