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
Dave Smith, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2025
Federal prosecutors claimed that Rozier was feigning the injury in front of an arena full of paying, unsuspecting fans.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC news, 27 Oct. 2025
Authorities explained Thursday that involved NBA players would alter their performance or take themselves out of a game — feigning injury or illness, for example — to ensure certain bets involving them paid out heavily.
—Addy Bink, The Hill, 23 Oct. 2025
Travis Kelce is feigning ignorance about that spicy new Taylor Swift track.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
Katz said, feigning familiarity with the leader’s influence and drawing laughs from the audience.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2025
Federal prosecutors claimed that Rozier was feigning the injury in front of an arena full of paying, unsuspecting fans.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC news, 27 Oct. 2025
Authorities explained Thursday that involved NBA players would alter their performance or take themselves out of a game — feigning injury or illness, for example — to ensure certain bets involving them paid out heavily.
—Addy Bink, The Hill, 23 Oct. 2025
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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Testing includes closed-course validation and large-scale simulation alongside public road testing.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Jan. 2026
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Newcastle had a penalty chance of their own waved away just before the break, with referee Michael Salisbury booking Joelinton for simulation.—
Chris Waugh,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Parents reported that their children loved playing with the original Nékojita FuFu, pretending to fan their faces and blow-dry their hair.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Jan. 2026
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How naïve must Trump be to believe that Putin cares about Ukraine’s well-being after invading it, killing thousands of its people, kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children back to Russia, and continuing to bomb civilian apartment buildings while pretending to negotiate a peace deal?—
Tom Zirpoli,
Baltimore Sun,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Morrisseau’s work, in particular, was the focus of what is believed to be the largest forgery ring of all time, in which several thousand fakes were illegitimately authenticated and sold around the world.—
Benjamin Cannon,
The Atlantic,
23 Dec. 2025
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Christopher Robinson, 47, has been charged with four counts of forgery, four counts of perjury and one count of official misconduct, according to Jefferson County District Court records.—
Lillian Metzmeier,
Louisville Courier Journal,
23 Dec. 2025
Verb
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In recent years Beijing has ramped up its military intimidation of Taiwan, including by simulating blockades.—
Steven Jiang,
CNN Money,
6 Jan. 2026
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Since stem cell models represent a disease’s early stages, simulating development is trickier and more time-consuming.—
Noah Lyons,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Today, the same fakes can be flagged using AI developed by a company called N2N Services, said Claudia Lee, Golden West College’s vice president of student services.—
Jaweed Kaleem,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Jan. 2026
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With the score 3-0 at the time, and both teams struggling to protect their quarterbacks, the fake looked like a potential pivot point in a low-scoring game.—
Ralph D. Russo,
New York Times,
2 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In estimating that online sales would result in overall annual profits of about $30-90 million, the Legislative Services Agency is assuming there would be an accompanying decrease in retail lottery sales.—
Kayla Dwyer,
IndyStar,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Launching a military operation and then assuming responsibility for governance shifts Washington toward a closed, coercive model of power – one that relies on force to establish authority and is prohibitively costly to sustain over time.—
Monica Duffy Toft,
The Conversation,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Court records show Walshe pleaded guilty in 2021 to wire fraud after selling counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings online.—
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Dec. 2025
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Do carve out a spot for the Mongkok market, with its colorful juxtaposition of souvenirs, food, fashions — beware of counterfeits, though — with live fish and even birds.—
Tianwei Zhang,
Footwear News,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
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His memoir told of workhouse guards beating prisoners on the least pretense, and of one guard who regularly shoved prisoners down flights of stairs.—
Equal Justice Initiative,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
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The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said in a May report that women from more than 20 African countries had been recruited under false pretences to make drones for Russia’s war.—
Reuters 16 hr ago,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Feigning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/feigning. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
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