FEIGNING Synonyms: 54 Similar and Opposite Words

feigning 1 of 2

noun

as in simulation

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feigning

2 of 2

verb

present participle of feign

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of feigning

Verb

Patients are often described as drug seekers and accused of feigning their pain. — Larry Seward, CBS News, 29 June 2026 Most artists spend enormous energy maintaining that closeness — or at least feigning it. — Jeff Benjamin, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026 All the while, the pair are doing their makeup on the plane ride over, feigning their different emergencies so as not to spoil the surprise. — Sara Belcher, PEOPLE, 20 May 2026 When Zuccarello took a swipe with his stick and smacked McCarron in the leg, the big man responded with a Oscar-worthy acting job, feigning like he had been slashed on the wrist. — Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 20 Mar. 2026 Thanks for being there and at least feigning interest in my oddball life. — Marla Jo Fisher, Oc Register, 18 Mar. 2026 Dillon Brooks antagonizing, Devin Booker feigning indifference. — Jason Quick, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026 Camille smirks into her wine, feigning terror but secretly gleeful at the display. — Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026 Akhparian asked while patting himself down and feigning to be in search of a weapon. — Linh Tat, Daily News, 8 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for feigning

Noun

Eventual champions Coventry City and runners-up Ipswich Town were tipped to finish fourth and third respectively before a ball had been kicked last August, via the running of 10,000 simulations of how the campaign would unfold.

— Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
By combining observations of IRS 3's spectrum with simulations of how its light travels through different models of the surrounding material, researchers reconstructed the structure of the star's envelope.

— Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of simulation

Noun

This practice went undetected by OpenAI engineers through May 26, when an agent discovered a way to use Artifactory to cache live websites and capture their information via a server-side request forgery (SSRF) exploit.

— Justyn Newman, PC Magazine, 6 Aug. 2026
According to the state report, the top three crimes committed in Saratoga in 2025 were residential burglaries, grand theft and ID theft, forgery and fraud.

— Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of forgery

Verb

However, that process would require a lot of extra work for scrapers that currently just pull down the raw HTML source code of billions of webpages as plaintext, without going to the trouble of simulating a browser’s rendering pipeline.

— Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026
In addition to simulating the dispersal of defense production, Taiwan is throttling the island’s mobile network to show civilians what happens when internet services are disabled.

— Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of simulating

Noun

Trump’s improbable rise to political dominance, which polls failed to register in the lead-up to the 2016 election, is a clear testament to that reality, and now Michigan has shown how similar head fakes can occur on the left.

— The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Aug. 2026
The employee framed by a fake inherits the job of proving a negative.

— Lars Daniel, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

Definition of fake

Verb

His immediate tasks since assuming the top job have been sustaining momentum in Disney's core growth areas, namely its theme parks and streaming divisions.

— Lillian Rizzo, CNBC, 14 Aug. 2026
In a sense, the proof shows that a world in which love never returns is a world whose geometry tears itself apart—assuming, of course, the proof holds up.

— Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of assuming

Noun

The distinction between authentic and counterfeit is becoming increasingly difficult to discern.

— Chuck Brooks, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
The European Commission previously said AliExpress breached its obligations under the DSA, which required it to diligently assess and mitigate the risks of counterfeits.

— Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 22 July 2026

Definition of counterfeit

Noun

Holden eagerly rebels against Pencey Prep, gets the boot, and flees to New York City, a place with its own vices and hazards, but without the sort of propaganda and pretense that obscure the school’s dark underside.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Aug. 2026
Johnson created the story of Nancy (Emilia Jones), who is not a girlfriend, but a crush who Bourdain foolhardily (and under false pretenses) follows to Provincetown after not getting a writing fellowship.

— Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of pretense

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“Feigning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/feigning. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of feigning

noun

verb

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