pretended

pre·tend·ed

adj \pri-ˈten-dəd\

Definition of PRETENDED

: professed or avowed but not genuine <pretended affection>

— pre·tend·ed·ly adverb

Examples of PRETENDED

1. <he shows a pretended affection for his girlfriend's cat>
2. <hoped that his pretended interest in classical music would impress the boss>

First Known Use of PRETENDED

15th century

Related to PRETENDED

Synonyms: affected, assumed, bogus, contrived, factitious, fake, false, feigned, forced, mechanical, mock, phony (also phoney), plastic, artificial, pseudo, put-on, sham, simulated, spurious, strained, unnatural

Antonyms: artless, genuine, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced

Related Words: automatic, canned, concocted, fabricated, hokey, labored, manufactured, pat, unauthentic, unreal, unrealistic; double-dealing, empty, facile, hollow, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, two-faced, unctuous; exaggerated, histrionic, melodramatic, overacted, overdone, theatrical (also theatric); cute, cutesy, genteel, goody-goody, mincing, overrefined, simpering; conventional, formal, impersonal, inflexible, rigid, stiff, stylized, wooden; artful, calculated, conscious, cultivated, deliberate, premeditated, studied

Near Antonyms: authentic, bona fide, real, realistic, right, true; honest, ingenuous, sincere, unpretending; easy, effortless, smooth; extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudied

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Rhymes with PRETENDED

extended, intended, unfriended