Adjacent Words

Pretending definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRETEND'ING, ppr. Holding out a false appearance; laying claim to, or attempting to make others believe one is what in truth he is not, or that he has or does something which he has or does not; making hypocritical professions.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending" [syn: pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pretend Pre*tend", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pretended; p. pr. & vb. n. Pretending.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. pr['e]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.] ``His target always over her pretended.'' --Spenser.