Pretend word meaning and definition

[adjective] imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of theater"; "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish"
[verb] make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"
[verb] behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting"
[verb] put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; "pretend the title of King"

\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. 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.'' --Spenser.
\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. 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.'' --Macaulay.

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