verb
- acting as if something is true when it is not; making believe
Usage: present participle of ‘pretend’
noun
- the act of making believe or acting as if something untrue is real
Usage: gerund form
Examples
- She was pretending to be asleep when her parents checked on her.
- The children were pretending to be pirates in the backyard.
- He’s just pretending he doesn’t care about the test results.
- Stop pretending you don’t know what happened.
- All this pretending is exhausting me.
- The pretending ended when she finally told the truth.
- His pretending to be sick fooled no one.