as in pretending
to present a false appearance of
I would never feign illness just to get out of a test
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of feigning
Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
Travis Kelce is feigning ignorance about that spicy new Taylor Swift track.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for feigning
Noun
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The team carried out multiple simulations to see if the injuries could have been sustained through other activities during the dinosaurs’ daily lives, like accidentally stepping on each other’s tails, muscular strain during motion, fighting, being hunted, feeding or walking.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
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The study showed the fiber‘s strong commercial potential, based on simulations using pilot data.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Words like that carry generations of pain, and pretending otherwise only keeps the cycle going.—
Lisa Respers France,
CNN Money,
3 Nov. 2025
-
People just pretending, and so on.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Notably, in 2011, McGuinness, once a top official with the Oakland County Democratic Party, was charged with forgery and perjury.—
Lily Altavena,
Freep.com,
30 Oct. 2025
-
At the time of his death, Hercules was facing forgery, theft, identity theft and making false information charges, according to Johnson County court documents.—
Caroline Zimmerman,
Kansas City Star,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Lincoln Lab teams are currently using that creative power to fill gaps in weather data, spot anomalies in network traffic, and design new materials and medicines by simulating chemical interactions that would historically take months in a physical lab.—
Chelsea Haney
October 30,
New Atlas,
30 Oct. 2025
-
China, the most dangerous party, has militarized the strait, launching large military drills simulating blockades of the island and daily incursions across the median line.—
STEPHEN WERTHEIM,
Foreign Affairs,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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So did a disturbing AI fake of Parton on her deathbed.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
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That became a clear problem for an identification credential that is expected to be universal in a world where fakes are commonplace.—
Elliot Mann,
Twin Cities,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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With Kevin Gausman, José Berríos (assuming elbow health) and Trey Yesavage pencilled into starting spots next year, the Jays have at least two holes to fill.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
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Without context, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the Elena in question was not another author’s creation, but Messud’s own.—
Lily Meyer,
The Atlantic,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Superfakes follows a small-time Chinatown luxury counterfeit dealer who enters a dangerous black-market underworld to fund a life of suburban respectability for her family.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
27 Oct. 2025
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While fake goods have exchanged hands in informal markets since ancient times, the growth of online marketplaces has contributed to the rise in counterfeits because of how easy online shopping and selling have become.—
Gabrielle Fonrouge,Paige Tortorelli,
CNBC,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Under the pretense of going to the bathroom, Dunne escaped out the window and took off in her car, which Sweeney jumped the hood of.—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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Dwarfing its predecessor and three inches taller, the Ford GT made no pretense of being a racing machine like the car that inspired it.—
Robert Ross,
Robb Report,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Feigning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/feigning. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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