Word Type

Verb

Noun

Adjective

Adjective

The word "pretend" can be used as verb, noun, adjective and adjective.

Word Relationships

Derived Terms

Pretendian Pretendolino make pretend outpretend pretended pretendedly pretendingly pretendingness unpretended unpretending

Etymologically Related To

tend

First Subevents

act act on stage decide what pretending fool others get laid imagine make believe put yourself into another's shoes willingly suspend disbelief

Last Subevents

forget reality laugh use imagination

Prerequisites

act act in manner act smart become actor day dream engage imagination fake false forget reality good liar have fun with have good imagination have imagination ignore reality imagane imagine imagine other than reality imagine yourself in situation in play learn to act lie think think of that's not there think up to pretend about use imagination usurp claim

Subevents

act beeing caught can fool daydreams fun imagine imagine scenario laughter lie losing touch with reality people believe religion use imagination vision of loveliness

Broader Terms (Hypernyms)

acquit act arrogate bear behave belie carry claim comport conduct deport do feigning lay claim misrepresent play pretence pretending pretense represent simulation speculate

Manner Of

claim

Motivated By Goal

actor deceive fool fool others fun makes others happy people to think highly of perform character in play playful playing truth can hurt trying to fool were acting

Related Terms

pretender pretense pretension pretentious pretentiousness

Related Terms

allege appear deception deliberate extend falsely feign hidden intend lay claim make believe pretender pretense pretension pretentious pretentiousness put forward to

Similar Terms

acquit act affect bear behave carry comport conduct deport dissemble do feign make make believe sham unreal

Synonym Network

act affect aspire counterfeit deem dissemble falsify feign guess imagine lie make make believe profess sham simulate strive after

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