Synonyms of put on

put on 1 of 3

verb

1

as in to throw (on)

to place on one's person

I put on a coat and shoes to go outside

Synonyms & Similar Words

• throw (on)
• don
• slip (on or into)
• rig
• dress
• uniform
• suit
• trick
• apparel
• bundle up
• clothe
• array
• doll up
• attire
• bedeck
• robe
• garb
• bedizen
• caparison
• overdress

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• take off
• remove
• strip
• doff
• undress
• disrobe

2

as in to exaggerate

to describe or express in too strong terms

some critics are putting it on when they say it's the best comedy ever made

Synonyms & Similar Words

• exaggerate
• overdo
• play up
• overstate
• overdraw
• pad
• elaborate
• stretch
• embellish
• embroider
• color
• melodramatize
• hedge
• magnify
• overemphasize
• fudge
• sensationalize
• overplay

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• understate
• minimize
• belittle
• play down

3

as in to pretend

to present a false appearance of

put on a show of anger just for fun

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pretend
• pass (for)
• simulate
• assume
• make believe
• affect
• act
• feign
• bluff
• profess
• let on
• dissemble
• counterfeit
• pose
• fake
• forge
• sham
• conceal
• play
• imitate
• masquerade
• mask
• impersonate
• camouflage
• disguise
• dissimulate
• playact
• feint
• malinger

put-on

2 of 3

adjective

ˈpu̇t-ˈȯn 

as in mock

lacking in natural or spontaneous quality

a put-on goofy voice

Synonyms & Similar Words

• mock
• fake
• strained
• false
• unnatural
• exaggerated
• mechanical
• artificial
• contrived
• simulated
• pseudo
• affected
• feigned
• phony
• plastic
• assumed
• sham
• theatrical
• factitious
• bogus
• spurious
• pretended
• cute
• forced
• unreal
• hollow
• deliberate
• automatic
• insincere
• manufactured
• hypocritical
• calculated
• unrealistic
• empty
• formal
• pat
• melodramatic
• hokey
• fabricated
• unctuous
• conscious
• canned
• labored
• facile
• stiff
• histrionic
• unauthentic
• wooden
• concocted
• conventional
• impersonal
• premeditated
• stylized
• two-faced
• cultivated
• rigid
• double-dealing
• overacted
• overdone
• artful
• cutesy
• mealy
• genteel
• mincing
• simpering
• mealymouthed
• goody-goody
• left-handed
• studied
• inflexible
• overrefined

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• genuine
• spontaneous
• real
• natural
• unaffected
• artless
• authentic
• true
• realistic
• bona fide
• right
• sincere
• ingenuous
• honest
• uncontrived
• unfeigned
• unforced
• easy
• smooth
• effortless
• unconscious
• instinctive
• impromptu
• extemporaneous
• impulsive
• unpretending
• unrehearsed
• unstudied
• unprompted

put-on

3 of 3

noun

ˈpu̇t-ˌȯn 

1

as in pretense

a display of emotion or behavior that is insincere or intended to deceive

my bravery was all a put-on—I was scared out of my wits

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pretense
• facade
• show
• guise
• act
• pose
• charade
• airs
• disguise
• masquerade
• front
• semblance
• playacting
• cloak
• persona
• performance
• portrayal
• affectation
• appearance
• pretext
• impersonation
• deception
• camouflage
• image
• gloss
• duplicity
• excuse
• betrayal
• dissimulation
• fakery
• fraud
• deceit
• treachery
• guile
• falseness
• treason
• dissembling
• perfidy
• double-dealing
• falsity
• color
• infidelity
• faithlessness
• double cross
• unfaithfulness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sincerity
• frankness
• directness
• candor
• bluntness
• straightforwardness
• forthrightness
• outspokenness
• candidness
• naïveté
• artlessness
• genuineness
• openheartedness
• plainspokenness

2

as in parody

a work that imitates and exaggerates another work for comic effect

for a moment, I couldn't tell if the commercial was serious or a deadpan put-on of ads by other insurance companies

Synonyms & Similar Words

• parody
• spoof
• satire
• caricature
• imitation
• send-up
• takeoff
• burlesque
• rib
• travesty
• comedy
• exaggeration
• farce
• distortion
• mockery
• sketch
• humor
• impersonation
• lampoon
• slapstick
• squib
• mimicking

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of put on

Verb

Ariana Grande’s reunion with Ryan Murphy has been put on hold as the singer was forced to withdraw from her role on the upcoming season of American Horror Story due to her tour schedule. — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 10 July 2026

Please put on your batteries — a Mexican Spanish idiom that means to cowboy up. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

Adjective

For Bass, the swirl of put-on politics is especially exasperating. — Jim Newton, Mercury News, 12 July 2025

With access to troves of archival footage, Braverman shows Kaufman transforming the very nature of comedy by launching the put-on into existential extremes. — Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025