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Dictionary


pre•tend



Pronunciation: (pri-tend'), [key]
—v.t.
1. to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness; to pretend that nothing is wrong.
2. to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign: to pretend to go to sleep.
3. to make believe: The children pretended to be cowboys.
4. to presume; venture: I can't pretend to say what went wrong.
5. to allege or profess, esp. insincerely or falsely: He pretended to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.

—v.i.
1. to make believe.
2. to lay claim to (usually fol. by to): She pretended to the throne.
3. to make pretensions (usually fol. by to): He pretends to great knowledge.
4. Obs.to aspire, as a suitor or candidate (fol. by to).

—adj.
Informal.make-believe; simulated; counterfeit: pretend diamonds.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

pretencepretended
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