pretend : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: pretend	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for pretend
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
pretend adj imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of theater"; "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish" Synonym(s): make-believe, pretend n the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend" [syn: make-believe, pretend] v make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache" Synonym(s): feign, sham, pretend, affect, dissemble behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" Synonym(s): dissemble, pretend, act put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; "pretend the title of King" put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation; "I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again"; "I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong" Synonym(s): guess, venture, pretend, hazard represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like; "She makes like an actress" Synonym(s): make, pretend, make believe state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine" Synonym(s): profess, pretend
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Pretend \Pretend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pretended}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pretending}.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. pr[82]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See {Tend}, v. t. ] 1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim. Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. --Dryden. 2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. [R.] Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. --Milton. 3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend* friendship. This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal. --Milton. 4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.] Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state. --Shak. 5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] [bd]His target always over her pretended.[b8] --Spenser.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Pretend \Pretend"\, v. i. 1. To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to. [bd]Countries that pretend* to freedom.[b8] --Swift. For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well. --Chaucer. 2. To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep. [bd][He] pretended to drink the waters.[b8] --Macaulay.