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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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1
as in deception
the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
got whatever she wanted through shameless dissimulation
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceit
the pretending of having virtues, principles, or beliefs that one in fact does not have
teenagers indulging in dissimulation simply in order to be one of the in crowd
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dissimulate
Tyler Cowen, Twin Cities, 5 July 2019
Verb
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissimulate
Verb
-
An investigation revealed the teen had corresponded online with an individual pretending to be a 20-year-old woman, later identified by authorities as Kassi.—
Jason Green,
Mercury News,
10 May 2025
-
And by the fourth, all that remained was an empty row of houses, merely pretending to be homes.—
Jessica Guerrieri,
People.com,
9 May 2025
Noun
-
As an escaped convict posing as a beloved preacher, and as his gentle, upright twin, Robeson embodies a devastating split between appearance and truth, and whose uncanny doubling plays out in a community shaped by racial violence, spiritual deception, and economic precarity.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
21 May 2025
-
Ellie, however, cannot abide Joel’s deception, and interrupts to tell the truth to Gail, who then slaps Joel and tells him to leave.—
Adam B. Vary,
Variety,
19 May 2025
Noun
-
Lia Thomas stole a medal through deceit, and this rag has the gall to call him a 'champion'?—
Nick Mordowanec,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 May 2025
-
Maeve doubles down on her deceit, lying to Conrad to cover her own ass.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
11 May 2025
Noun
-
Neither his fearsome resolve nor his supreme cunning—which had enabled him to vanquish his rivals and spiritually crush his inner circle—was in evidence in 1941.—
Stephen Kotkin,
Foreign Affairs,
19 Sep. 2017
-
Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
18 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
No fussy affectations, just a deliberate tamping down of his more charismatic qualities.—
A.A. Dowd,
Rolling Stone,
25 Apr. 2025
-
Ivy-as-Marilyn is an inconsiderate, amphetamine guzzling faux-intellectual whose devotion to the acting craft is presented as a vainglorious affectation.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Bonnie Cash/Getty Images The Department of Government Efficiency is continuing its attempts to expand its reach beyond executive branch agencies, this time seeking to embed in an independent legislative watchdog that finds waste, fraud and abuse in the government.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
16 May 2025
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UnitedHealth Group is under a Department of Justice criminal probe for possible criminal Medicare fraud related to its Medicare Advantage business, according to the Wall Street Journal.—
Medora Lee,
USA Today,
16 May 2025
Noun
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Twain was both a brilliant writer who exposed America’s hypocrisies with humor and wit, and an angry man who savored revenge, nursed grudges and blamed God for the blows fate rained down on his head.—
Mary Ann Gwinn,
Los Angeles Times,
9 May 2025
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But with the the Midnight Cowboy star and his inner circle making a number of films themselves overseas and in Canada, their hypocrisy seems glaring and perhaps self-serving.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
8 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissimulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissimulate. Accessed 24 May. 2025.
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