as in pretending
to take on a false or deceptive appearance
she's not half as innocent as she likes to let on
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Recent Examples of letting on
But if any such expansion plans are in the works, Goldman isn’t letting on.
—
Josef Adalian, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
But according to renowned astrologer Chani Nicholas, the implications are more complicated than certain media may be letting on.
—Quispe López, Them., 9 Sep. 2025
Josef Adalian, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
But according to renowned astrologer Chani Nicholas, the implications are more complicated than certain media may be letting on.
—Quispe López, Them., 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for letting on
pretending
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
Cite this Entry
“Letting on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/letting%20on. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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