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to pretend
01
to act in a specific way in order to make others believe that something is the case when actually it is not so
Transitive: to pretend to do sth
Grammatical Information
Composition
Simple
Action verb
Regular
Present tense
pretend
3rd person singular
pretends
Present participle
pretending
Past simple
pretended
Past participle
pretended
Examples
He pretended to enjoy the meal, even though it did n't taste good, to avoid causing offense.
02
to act as if experiencing or having an emotion or trait without truly feeling it
Transitive: to pretend an emotion
Examples
She pretended happiness to avoid worrying her friends.
03
represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like
Transitive: to pretend to do sth | to pretend that
Examples
The children pretended they were pirates searching for hidden treasure.
Pretend
01
the enactment of a pretense
Grammatical Information
Animacy status
Abstract
Composition
Compound
Uncountable
pretend
01
imagined as in a play
Grammatical Information
Composition
present participle adjective
qualitative
Superlative
most pretend
Comparative
more pretend
gradable
Lexical Tree
pretended
pretender
pretending
pretend
