pretend

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: pre=tend
• COUNT in NET: 3 in 3 verses (in OT : 3 in 3 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

pretend, v. t. [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F. prétendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See Tend, v. t. ].

•  To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.  [1913 Webster]

  "Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend."  [1913 Webster]
•  To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
  To hellish falsehood, snare them."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "This let him know,
  Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
  Surprisal."  [1913 Webster]
•  To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such as shall pretend
  Malicious practices against his state."  [1913 Webster]
•  To hold before one; to extend.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

pretend, v. i. 

•  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.  Swift.  [1913 Webster]

  "For to what fine he would anon pretend,
  That know I well."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  Macaulay.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

pretend, v. & adj.
--v.
1 tr. claim or assert falsely so as to deceive (pretend knowledge; pretended that they were foreigners).
2 tr. imagine to oneself in play (pretended to be monsters; pretended it was night).
3 tr. a profess, esp. falsely or extravagantly (does not pretend to be a scholar). b (as pretended adj.) falsely claim to be such (a pretended friend).
4 intr. (foll. by to) a lay claim to (a right or title etc.). b profess to have (a quality etc.).
--adj. colloq. pretended; in pretence (pretend money).

Etymology

ME f. F pr{eacute}tendre or f. L (as PRAE-, tendere tent-, later tens- stretch)

THESAURUS

pretend

act, act a part, adopt, affect, aim to, allege, appropriate, arrogate, assume, attempt, attempt to, avow, bluff, challenge, claim, counterfeit, cover up, dare, dare to, dissemble, dissimulate, do a bit, dramatize, encroach, endeavor, fake, feign, four-flush, gammon, hazard, histrionize, infringe, invade, lay claim to, let on, let on like, make a pretense, make as if, make believe, make bold, make free, make like, make out, make out like, overact, play, play God, play a part, play a scene, play possum, playact, presume, pretend to, pretext, profess, protest too much, purport, put on, put on airs, represent, seek to, seize, sham, simulate, strive to, study to, take over, take the liberty, trespass, try, try and, try to, tug the heartstrings, undertake, usurp, venture, venture to, wear

ROGET THESAURUS

pretend

Pretext

VB pretend, plead, allege, shelter oneself under the plea of, excuse, lend a color to, furnish a handle, make a pretext of, make a handle of, use as a plea, take one's stand upon, make capital out of, pretend, pretend, plead, allege, shelter oneself under the plea of, excuse, lend a color to, furnish a handle, make a pretext of, make a handle of, use as a plea, take one's stand upon, make capital out of, pretend.

Affirmation

VB assert, make an assertion, have one's say, say, affirm, predicate, declare, state, protest, profess, put forth, put forward, advance, allege, propose, propound, enunciate, broach, set forth, hold out, maintain, contend, pronounce, pretend, depose, depone, aver, avow, avouch, asseverate, swear, make oath, take one's oath, make an affidavit, swear an affidavit, put in an affidavit, take one's Bible oath, kiss the book, vow, vitam impendere vero, swear till one is black in the face, swear till one is blue in the face, swear till all's blue, be sworn, call Heaven to witness, vouch, warrant, certify, assure, swear by bell book and candle, swear by, insist upon, take one's stand upon, emphasize, lay stress on, assert roundly, assert positively, lay down, lay down the law, raise one's voice, dogmatize, have the last word, rap out, repeat, reassert, reaffirm, announce, acknowledge, attest, adjure.

Falsehood

VB be false, be a liar, speak falsely, tell a lie, lie, fib, lie like a trooper, swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness, misstate, misquote, miscite, misreport, misrepresent, belie, falsify, pervert, distort, put a false construction upon (misinterpret), prevaricate, equivocate, quibble, palter, palter to the understanding, repondre en Normand, trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose, garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to, give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon, color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider, varnish right and puzzle wrong, exaggerate, blague, invent, fabricate, trump up, get up, force, fake, hatch, concoct, romance, cry 'wolf!', dissemble, dissimulate, feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe, play possum, play false, play a double game, coquet, act a part, play a part, affect, simulate, pass off for, counterfeit, sham, make a show of, malinger, say the grapes are sour, cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror, hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors, commend the poisoned chalice to the lips, ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces, deceive.