Definition of Pretend

Pretend

To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.

To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.

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.

To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.

To hold before one; to extend.

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.

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.

Related Definitions:

After, Allege, Appearance, As, Asleep, Attempt, Be, Before, Being, Believe, Claim, Cloak, Deceiving, Design, Disguise, Else, Exhibit, Extend, Falsely, Feign, For, Forward, Friendship, Hidden, Hold, In, Intend, Lay, Make, Of, Offer, One, Or, Out, Performing, Plot, Possessing, Pretend, Profess, Purpose, Put, Real, Represent, Sham, Show, Simulate, Something, Strive, The, Title, To, True, Truly, Unreal, Untrue, Veil, With

Pretend Quotations

I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
Winston Churchill

If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
Oscar Wilde

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Socrates

Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
Sun Tzu

If you like small government you need to work hard at having a strong national defense that is not so militant. Personal liberty is the purpose of government, to protect liberty - not to run your personal life, not to run the economy, and not to pretend that we can tell the world how they ought to live.
Ron Paul

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Mitch Hedberg

Al Qaeda is still a threat. We cannot pretend somehow that because Barack Hussein Obama got elected as president, suddenly everything is going to be OK.
Barack Obama

Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
Chanakya

We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth.
Carl Jung

Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.
Kurt Vonnegut

I don't pretend to be captain weird. I just do what I do.
Johnny Depp

I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife.
Elizabeth Taylor

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
Kurt Vonnegut

It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, "Make me feel important." Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.
Mary Kay Ash

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.
Clarence Darrow

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.
Clarence Darrow

The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
Clarence Darrow

I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.
Clarence Darrow

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Alan Watts

But we try to pretend, you see, that the external world exists altogether independently of us.
Alan Watts

Always keep that happy attitude. Pretend that you are holding a beautiful fragrant bouquet.
Earl Nightingale

You are about to have your first experience with a Greek lunch. I will kill you if you pretend to like it.
Jackie Kennedy

You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.
Fran Lebowitz

I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along.
Bertrand Russell

Obscenities... I think a lot of dumb people do it because they can't think of what they want to say and they're frustrated. A lot of smart people do it to pretend they aren't very smart - want to be just one of the boys.
Andy Rooney

You can pretend to be serious; but you can't pretend to be witty.
Sacha Guitry

We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I don't pretend to understand the Universe - it's a great deal bigger than I am.
Thomas Carlyle

People often become actresses because of something they dislike about themselves: They pretend they are someone else.
Bette Davis

More Pretend Quotations

Pretend Translations

pretend in Danish is foregive
pretend in Dutch is voorgeven, voorwenden, doen alsof
pretend in Portuguese is finja

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