as in to pretend
to take on a false or deceptive appearance
as an actress she had been trained to dissimulate, so she had no trouble hiding her true feelings offstage as well
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Recent Examples of dissimulate
The result is that Republican politicians dissimulate much more, and of course there is no comparable primary competition.
—
Tyler Cowen, Twin Cities, 5 July 2019
Tyler Cowen, Twin Cities, 5 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissimulate
pretend
Verb
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Tapping into his State Farm acting chops on fourth down while leading 7-0, Mahomes pretended to be frustrated with a Reid play-call before handing the ball off.—
Pete Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
21 Oct. 2025
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In the finale, Brandis pretends not to see the million-dollar stash in Maeve's possession and zips the bag back up, looking up as birds sing.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
20 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissimulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissimulate. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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