Dissemble

//dɪˈsɛmbəl// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To disguise or conceal something. transitive

    "Dissemble all your griefs and discontents."

  2. 2
    make believe with the intent to deceive wordnet
  3. 3
    To feign, dissimulate. transitive

    "And like a lion, slumb'ring in the way, / Or sleep-dissembling, while he waits his prey."

  4. 4
    behave unnaturally or affectedly wordnet
  5. 5
    To deliberately ignore something; to pretend not to notice. transitive
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    hide under a false appearance wordnet
  2. 7
    To falsely hide one's opinions or feelings. intransitive

    "VVhile to his Arms the bluſhing Bride he took; / To ſeeming Sadneſs ſhe compoſ'd her Look; / As if by Force ſubjected to his VVill, / Tho' pleaſ'd, diſſembling, and a VVoman ſtill."

Synonyms

All synonyms
feignabuseactaffectassumebecloud

Antonyms

All antonyms
regard

Example

More examples

"Dissemble all your griefs and discontents."

Etymology

First attested in the beginning of the 15th century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English dissemblen, dissimblen, dissemelen, borrowed from Old French dessambler, dissembler, disembler, itself borrowed from Latin dissimulō and modified after sembler, semblance, etc. Doublet of dissimulate, dissimilate, and dissimule.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.