Word of the Day

: November 24, 2021

feign

verb FAYN

What It Means

Feign means "to give a false appearance of something."

// After her mom told her that she will bring her to the doctor's, Kim confessed that she was feigning illness because she forgot to finish her book report.

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feign in Context

"For his part, Hopkins said Collins had surprised him the most this preseason, adding that he's never seen a 6-9 player who can do the things his fellow freshman can on the court. Hopkins … also didn't attempt to feign surprise when told that every single one of his teammates had mentioned him by name when asked the same question." — Ben Roberts, The Lexington (Kentucky) Herald Leader, 21 Oct. 2021

Did You Know?

Feign is all about faking it, but that hasn't always been so. An early meaning of the word is "to fashion, form, or shape." That meaning comes from its Latin source: the verb fingere. In time, people began fashioning feign to suggest the act of forming, or giving shape to, false appearances.