feign

verb

ˈfān 

feigned; feigning; feigns

transitive verb

1

a

: to give a false appearance of : induce as a false impression

feign death

b

: to assert as if true : pretend

He feigned that he was not feeling well so that he could leave the party early.

2

archaic

a

: invent, imagine

b

: to give fictional representation to

3

obsolete : disguise, conceal

intransitive verb

: pretend, dissemble

He told the truth because he was no good at feigning.

feigner noun

Did you know?

The Shape of the History of Feign

Of the many ways Ferris Bueller feigns illness—that is, pretends to be sick—to avoid going to school in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, arguably the most ingenious involves tucking a mannequin version of himself under the blankets of his bed to fool his family. This method of deception provides not only entertaining hijinks but also clues to the origins of the word feign itself. Today, feign is all about faking it, but it hasn’t always been so. One of the word’s oldest meanings is “to fashion, form, or shape,” which echoes that of its Latin source, the verb fingere, meaning “to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, or pretend to be.” It’s one thing to fashion a likeness of oneself as an art project, and another to try and convince your family it’s really you in order to play hooky; it’s this element of deceit that infused other early meanings of feign including “to lie,” “to counterfeit,” and “to forge a document.” Today, people mostly use feign to suggest the act of forming, or giving shape to, false appearances—not of personas (such as, say, that of the Sausage King of Chicago), but rather conditions or feelings, such as happiness, sleep, or outrage.

Synonyms

• act
• affect
• assume
• bluff
• counterfeit
• dissemble
• fake
• pass (for)
• pretend
• profess
• put on
• sham
• simulate

Choose the Right Synonym for feign

assume, affect, pretend, simulate, feign, counterfeit, sham mean to put on a false or deceptive appearance.

assume often implies a justifiable motive rather than an intent to deceive.

assumed an air of cheerfulness around the patients

affect implies making a false show of possessing, using, or feeling.

affected an interest in art

pretend implies an overt and sustained false appearance.

pretended that nothing had happened

simulate suggests a close imitation of the appearance of something.

cosmetics that simulate a suntan

feign implies more artful invention than pretend, less specific mimicry than simulate.

feigned sickness

counterfeit implies achieving the highest degree of verisimilitude of any of these words.

an actor counterfeiting drunkenness

sham implies an obvious falseness that fools only the gullible.

shammed a most unconvincing limp

Examples of feign in a Sentence

I wince, feigning interest in a TV Guide and mumbling a hello. —Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1991

Success keeps her busy. "Relaxation?" she asks, feigning puzzlement. "What's that?" —Jennifer Johnston, New Woman, November 1990

… Brad would sometimes clown or feign clumsiness just to crack her composed expression with a blush or a disapproving frown. —John Updike, Trust Me, 1987

I would never feign illness just to get out of a test.

Recent Examples on the Web

Jenna Bush Hager Says Daughter Mila Got 'Overwhelmed' by Secret Service Spending Time with First Lady Laura Bush Guthrie's carousel also featured a picture of the girls at the end of the party, posing on a red truck while Mila feigned a yawn. —Hannah Sacks, People.com, 13 Apr. 2025

Putin is not feigning peace to stay on Trump’s good side merely to gobble up more Ukrainian territory. —Chicago Tribune, 11 Apr. 2025

Approximately half of late-night TV was off this week, which means Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and Taylor Tomlinson were all spared from having to feign shock and dismay over the vandalism of Teslas. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2025

Even Cynthia clocks Drew’s pattern of getting caught in lies—and feigning confusion when confronted. —Shelby Stewart, Essence, 19 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English feynen, feignen "to make, fabricate, make a likeness of, dissemble, pretend to be," borrowed from Anglo-French feign-, stem of feindre, going back to Latin fingere "to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, pretend to be," going back to Indo-European *d^hi-n-ǵ^h- (whence also Old Irish con-utuinc "builds, constructs," Armenian dizanem "[I] heap up"), present tense derivative of *d^hei̯ǵ^h- "knead, shape," whence Gothic digan "to knead, form from clay," Old Church Slavic ziždǫ, zĭdati "to build," Lithuanian žiedžiù, žiẽsti "to form, shape (from clay)" (Balto-Slavic with metathesis of stop consonants), Armenian edēz "(s/he) heaped up," Tocharian B tsik- "fashion, shape, build," Sanskrit pari … déhat "will cover over, smear over"

Note: See also etymologies at dough, paradise, and thigmotropism.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Rhymes for feign

• ane
• bane
• blain
• brain
• cane
• chaine
• cheyne
• deign
• drain
• fain
• fane
• gain

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Kids Definition

feign

verb

ˈfān 

1

: to give a false appearance of : fake

feign illness

2

: to state as if true

feign an excuse