Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use pretend in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, adjective, noun

Pretend means to speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance. Example: “You don't have to pretend that the soup tastes fine.”

Examples of pretend by meaning

verbTo speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.

  • You don't have to pretend that the soup tastes fine.
  • You don't have to pretend to like the soup.
  • If you don't like it, say so. You don't have to pretend.

verbTo engage in make-believe.

  • She moved her fingers across the desk, pretending to play the piano.
  • She didn't have a real piano to play, so she just pretended.
  • Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.2003 January 23, Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, London

verbTo feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).

  • She's pretending illness to get out of the business meeting.
  • He pretended an air of indifference that he'd never assumed before.
  • Dropping one's anger and pretending indifference does not make one objective, only acceptable.1980 February 9, Charley Shively, “Radical History: Not Radical Enough”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 12

verbTo lay claim (to an ability, status, advantage, etc.).

  • The family's exile was intended to stop them pretending to the throne.
  • People observed the diversity of schools and the acerbity of their disputes, and decided that all alike were pretending to knowledge which was in fact unattainable.1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25

adjectiveNot really what it is represented as being; imaginary, feigned.

  • As children we used to go on "spying" missions around the neighbour's house, but it was all pretend.

nounThe act of engaging in pretend play.

  • We used to dress up in our grandparents' old clothes and play pretend.

More sentences with pretend

  • He keeps calling pretending to be my boss—it gets me every time.From the entry get
  • Look at the sap mowing our lawn while we pretend our own lawnmower is broken.From the entry sap
  • She put on airs, pretending to be more sophisticated than she was.From the entry airs
  • Avery puts a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost to frighten Emily.From the entry frighten
  • Pretending to be slow is fair game. Pretending to be injured is not.From the entry fair game
  • The detective sat inconspicuously in her car, across the parking lot, pretending to read the newspaper.From the entry inconspicuously
  • He pretends to be knowledgeable, but actually he knows next to nothing.From the entry next to nothing
  • He pretends he's an artist, but he's just a poseur.From the entry poseur
  • Our little girls love using bedsheets and other stuff around the house to make dens in the living room and pretending they're on adventures.From the entry den
  • The students were goofing on the food safety training, pretending to eat off the floor, to shortchange their handwashing, and so on.From the entry goof on
  • I don't want to pretend to be an authority on this line of business, so I would never presume to tell you how to run your own company.From the entry presume
  • I think some larpers do actually hate what they pretend to like without realizing it.2026 June 5, u/Temporary_Canary_438, “What is the most larped VN”, in r/visualnovels. From the entry larper
  • They solve the problem of climate change by pretending it doesn't exist.2025 October 11, Simon Kuper, “A utopian future is still, just about, possible”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The…. From the entry nativist
  • The administration isn’t even pretending that it forced China to pay any special price for its defiance.2025 May 12, Jonathan Chait, “China Called Trump’s Bluff”, in The Atlantic. From the entry memory-hole
  • Woebot doesn’t pretend to be a human; instead, it leans into its robotness.2022 September 27, Barclay Bram, “My Therapist, the Robot”, in The New York Times. From the entry robotness
  • Pretending a litterbug and a spree killer have committed equivalent infractions doesn’t make people safer.2021 January 8, Nicole Hemmer, “The striking parallels between the assaults on Charlottesville and the Capitol”, in CNN. From the entry infraction
  • People have even been known to “wokefish”: to pretend they're progressive in order to get a date.2021, F.H. Buckley, Curiosity: And Its Twelve Rules for Life. From the entry wokefish
  • On StudyTok, people are pretending to study with celebs through fake but impressively realistic video calls.2021 August 13, Koh Ewe, “I ‘Worked With’ Celebrities To See if It Will Make Me More Productive”, in Vice, archived from the original on…. From the entry StudyTok
  • There is something disgusting about pretending your child is older than his actual age.2018, Jim Florentine, Everybody Is Awful: (Except You!), →ISBN. From the entry threenager
  • Even when I pretend to look insouciant, each look has been painfully considered.2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2025. From the entry sartorial
  • By pretending to be less than they know they are, they prevent being belittled by other people.2016, Jan Willem Duyvendak, Peter Geschiere, Evelien Tonkens, The Culturalization of Citizenship: Belonging and Polarization in a…. From the entry self-abasement
  • Select someone to whom you can at least pretend to send well-wishes.2015, Robert A. Neimeyer, Techniques of Grief Therapy: Assessment and Intervention, →ISBN. From the entry well-wish
  • “Mommy, I know that you don't suffer from ithyphallophobia, so you can stop pretending that you do.”2013, Eric Jerome Dickey, Decadence, Dutton, →ISBN. From the entry ithyphallophobia
  • Now we don't want you thinking I'm someone who isn't a chef pretending to be a chef.2012, Jim O’Connor, “Brilliant Cooking”, in The Bloke’s Guide to Brilliant Cooking: And How to Impress Women, [Bloomington, Ind.]…. From the entry bloke
  • In this sham battle, Crow men pretend to count coup on their old enemies, the Piegan.2012, Lillian Bullshows Hogan, Barbara Loeb, Mardell Hogan Plainfeather, “Memories of Youth”, in The Woman Who Loved Mankind: The Life of…. From the entry count coup
  • I think we should at least pretend it doesn't smell like a load of Bandini.2012 July 9, Checkmate, “Re: And this is what is called a SPANK”, in alt.free.newsservers (Usenet). From the entry bandini
  • Children pretend to be moms, teachers, dads, bakers, babies, dump truck drivers, dancers, and firefighters during sociodramatics.2012, Eve-Marie Arce, Curriculum for Young Children: An Introduction. From the entry sociodramatics

Meaning of pretend

  1. verb To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
  2. verb To engage in make-believe.
  3. verb To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).

Full definition of pretend

Questions about pretend in a sentence

How do you use pretend in a sentence?
Pretend is used as a verb, adjective and noun. For example: “You don't have to pretend that the soup tastes fine.”
What is a short sentence with pretend?
“You don't have to pretend to like the soup.”
What does pretend mean?
Pretend means to speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pretend (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use pretend in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pretend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.