pre·tend /prɪˈtɛnd/
(vt.)假裝,假托,裝扮(vi.)假裝,裝作
Pre·tend v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pretended; p. pr. & vb. n. Pretending.]
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.”
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.”
For to what fine he would anon pretend,
That know I well. --Chaucer.
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.”
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pretend
adj : 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]
n : the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend" [syn: make-believe]
v 1: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: feign, sham,
affect, dissemble]
2: behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" [syn:
dissemble, 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, hazard]
5: represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or
act like; "She makes like an actress" [syn: make, 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]