pretend
    adj 1: imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of
           theater"; "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water
           to catch pretend fish" [syn: make-believe, pretend]
    n 1: the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend" [syn:
         make-believe, pretend]
    v 1: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that
         he was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: feign, sham,
         pretend, affect, dissemble]
    2: behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" [syn:
       dissemble, pretend, act]
    3: put forward a claim and assert right or possession of;
       "pretend the title of King"
    4: 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" [syn: guess,
       venture, pretend, hazard]
    5: represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act
       like; "She makes like an actress" [syn: make, pretend,
       make believe]
    6: 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" [syn:
       profess, pretend]

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.
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            Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for
      something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
      [R.]
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            Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
            To hellish falsehood, snare them.     --Milton.
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   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.
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            This let him know,
            Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
            Surprisal.                            --Milton.
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   4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]
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            Such as shall pretend
            Malicious practices against his state. --Shak.
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   5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always
      over her pretended." --Spenser.
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Pretend \Pre*tend"\, 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. "Countries that pretend to freedom."
      --Swift.
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            For to what fine he would anon pretend,
            That know I well.                     --Chaucer.
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   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. "[He] pretended to
      drink the waters." --Macaulay.
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