PRETENDED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pretended

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/pritˈɛndəd/ /pritˈɛndɪd/ Listen

verb

Pretend v. t. (past & past part. pretended; pres. part. pretending)

1.

To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim. "Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend."

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."

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."

4.

To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. (Obs.) "Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state."

5.

To hold before one; to extend. (Obs.) "His target always over her pretended."

Pretend 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."

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."

adjective

Pretended adj. Making a false appearance; unreal; false; as, pretended friend.

See images of 'Pretended'

Etymology of 'Pretended'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pretended" Quotes from Famous Books

... first," said the Lady Brenhilda to her attendant. "Affectation of severe morals, of deep learning, and of rigid rectitude, assumed by this wicked old man, made me believe in part the character which he pretended; but the gloss is rubbed off since he let me see into his alliance with the unworthy Caesar, and the ugly picture remains in its native loathsomeness. Nevertheless, if I can, by address or subtlety, deceive this arch-deceiver,—as ...

— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott

... promptly accepted the inevitable, and if Kweiliang had negotiated with as much celerity as he pretended to be his desire, peace might have been concluded and the Chinese saved some further ignominy. But it soon became clear that all the Chinese were thinking about was to gain time, and as the months available for active campaigning were rapidly disappearing, it was imperative ...

— China • Demetrius Charles Boulger

... enactments the passive resistance of old institutions to the novel theories. In 1667, the oration at the interment was forbidden by royal order. In 1669, when the chair of philosophy at the Collge Royal fell vacant, one of the four selected candidates had to sustain a thesis against "the pretended new philosophy of Descartes." In 1671 the archbishop of Paris, by the king's order, summoned the heads of the university to his presence, and enjoined them to take stricter measures against philosophical novelties dangerous ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 - "Demijohn" to "Destructor" • Various

... by length of time it be pretended The climate may this modern breed ha' mended, Wise Providence, to keep us where we are, Mixes us daily with exceeding care. We have been Europe's sink, the Jakes where she Voids all her offal outcast progeny. From our fifth Henry's time, the strolling bands Of banished fugitives from neighbouring ...

— English Poets of the Eighteenth Century • Selected and Edited with an Introduction by Ernest Bernbaum

... his temper when he lost a game, whereas Caesar only laughed. Somehow John divined that the Demon was making the effort of his life to secure Desmond's friendship. And Caesar had ideals, standards to which the Demon pretended to attain. Good, simple John made sure that Caesar would elevate the Demon to his plane, that evil would be exorcised by good. Only in his dreams did the Demon ...

— The Hill - A Romance of Friendship • Horace Annesley Vachell

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