prætend

Verb

pretend (third-person singular simple present pretends, present participle pretending, simple past and past participle pretended)

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.

   Synonyms:

   make like

   1. (intransitive) To engage in make-believe.
      • She moved her fingers across the desk, pretending to play the piano.
   2. (intransitive, transitive) To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).
      • She's pretending illness to get out of the business meeting.
2. (formal, intransitive) To lay claim (to an ability, status, advantage, etc.).
   • The family's exile was intended to stop them pretending to the throne.
3. (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.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
4. (obsolete, transitive) To intend; to design, to plot; to attempt.
   • Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

See all 9 meanings of pretend