1
as in poses
to take on a false or deceptive appearance
I pretended that I didn't care that my ex had a new man in her life
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in assumes
to present a false appearance of
as if I would ever pretend illness just to take off a day from work
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pretends
There's also Bright White, which pretends to be Acetate, and definitely has the texture of something that wants to be organic.
—
Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026
In one snap, the foursome laughs as Crown Prince Christian pretends to grab his younger brother's neck.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026
This team is improved, has a deeper roster, no longer pretends Kris Bryant is a major league player and features more functional pitchers (No, seriously).
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026
The narrator of Lerner’s tight, astonishingly trenchant new book pretends to record part of his conversations with his elderly mentor and then uses his memory to write a profile.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026
Thus ensnared in a fiction of his making, the narrator takes his phone out and pretends to press Record.
—Giles Harvey, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
Sporting a bright yellow raincoat and rainboots, Garcia pretends to be a journalist reporting on the storm in West Kendall as a palm tree leaf slaps her across the face.
—Xitlalic Montelongo, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
Thomas is eager to get the interview under way that evening, and the narrator, for reasons that are opaque even to himself, pretends to be recording their conversation.
—Hannah Gold, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
Salim has to be the pragmatic one who pretends everything around them isn’t morally unjustifiable just to get through the day without losing his mind.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026
In one snap, the foursome laughs as Crown Prince Christian pretends to grab his younger brother's neck.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026
This team is improved, has a deeper roster, no longer pretends Kris Bryant is a major league player and features more functional pitchers (No, seriously).
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026
The narrator of Lerner’s tight, astonishingly trenchant new book pretends to record part of his conversations with his elderly mentor and then uses his memory to write a profile.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026
Thus ensnared in a fiction of his making, the narrator takes his phone out and pretends to press Record.
—Giles Harvey, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
Sporting a bright yellow raincoat and rainboots, Garcia pretends to be a journalist reporting on the storm in West Kendall as a palm tree leaf slaps her across the face.
—Xitlalic Montelongo, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
Thomas is eager to get the interview under way that evening, and the narrator, for reasons that are opaque even to himself, pretends to be recording their conversation.
—Hannah Gold, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
Salim has to be the pragmatic one who pretends everything around them isn’t morally unjustifiable just to get through the day without losing his mind.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretends
Verb
-
The government argued earlier that Allen poses a grave risk of danger to the public for allegedly seeking to carry out an attack at Saturday's dinner.—
Alexander Mallin,
ABC News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Meta’s mounting child safety litigation poses another potential obstacle.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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An earlier analysis from Deutsche Bank pointed out that the CBO assumes the primary deficit—the shortfall between revenue and spending excluding interest payments on debt—is expected to remain relatively stable over the next decade and beyond at about 2% of GDP.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
2 May 2026
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Importantly, guidance for both the current quarter and full year assumes no economic improvement.—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Alegría directed half of the show’s eight episodes; Urrejola plays the key character of Blanca.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
4 May 2026
-
The addition of the guest play-callers, Close and women’s water polo coach Adam Wright, led to a variety of trick plays throughout the game.—
Sean Campbell,
Los Angeles Times,
3 May 2026
Verb
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The facility is likely the only one in the world that can do full-load, bidirectional testing that simulates both grid conditions and variable data-center loads.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Ray tracing is a 3D rendering technology that simulates the behavior of light to produce realistic reflections and lighting effects.—
Will Greenwald,
PC Magazine,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Blue Line is an area spanning 120 kilometers (around 75 miles) along southern Lebanon that acts as a de-facto border between the two countries.—
Mustafa Qadri,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The system acts as an agent, building investment screens and producing full research reports, including sophisticated financial modeling and bull and bear cases for a particular stocks, on the fly.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Trump often professes his support for farmers.—
Anthony Pahnke,
Fortune,
14 Mar. 2026
-
The upcoming exhibition's contemporary edge professes the importance of displaying Native American art of the present, to resist the erasure of living, thriving Indigenous American cultures and communities.—
Anya Sesay,
jsonline.com,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
With his multi-instrumentalist bandmates, PJ Moore and co-songwriter Robert Bell, Buchanan zooms into these exchanges to prolong them or dissembles them into jagged pieces that leave the bigger picture to us.—
Sam Sodomsky,
Pitchfork,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Audrey Hudson, twenty-four, is a gifted battlefield surgeon who feigns muteness to comfort Carter Reynolds, a combat soldier deafened by an explosion.—
Chang Che,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
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Someone who’s really living the Andrew Tate-like lifestyle Jacob only feigns is his bestie Cameron (Dylan Playfair).—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
7 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pretends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretends. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
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