What is another word for pretending?

Need synonyms for pretending? Here's a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead.

Contexts ▼

Noun

The act of imagining

The action of pretending or imagining that things are better than they really are

Stage acting

Display intended to excite admiration or applause

Adjective

Ostensibly employed, but wasting time

Supposed but not necessarily real or true

Likely, capable of, or designed to, deceive

Verb

Present participle for to make a false show or pretense of

Present participle for engage in an imaginative game or fantasy

Present participle for behave so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not

Going through the motions of having

Present participle for to tell a lie or something that is untrue

Present participle for appear to be or do something, especially falsely

Present participle for make a show of

Present participle for to make jokes, especially for purposes of teasing someone

Present participle for to deceive or fool someone

Present participle for to quibble over trivial matters

Present participle for assume the existence of

Present participle for act

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Noun

The act of imagining

pretence^UK

pretense^US

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Noun

▲

The action of pretending or imagining that things are better than they really are

pretence^UK

pretense^US

color^US

colour^UK

phoney^UK

phony^US

creation of the brain

maneuver^US

manoeuvre^UK

chimera^US

chimaera^UK

every trick in the book

hypocritical behaviour

hypocritical statement

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Noun

Stage acting

dramatising^UK

dramatizing^US

pretence^UK

pretense^US

theatre^UK

theater^US

entertainment industry

fulfilment^UK

fulfillment^US

theatrical performance

public performance

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Noun

▲

Display intended to excite admiration or applause

splendour^UK

splendor^US

pizzazz^US

pzazz^UK

glamour^UK

glamor^US

vigor^US

vigour^UK

lustre^UK

luster^US

pomp and circumstance

honour^UK

honor^US

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Adjective

▲

Ostensibly employed, but wasting time

Adjective

Supposed but not necessarily real or true

rumoured^UK

idealized^US

rumored^US

idealised^UK

recognized^US

recognised^UK

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Adjective

▲

Likely, capable of, or designed to, deceive

phoney^UK

phony^US

sceptical^UK

skeptical^US

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Verb

▲

Present participle for to make a false show or pretense of

“I cannot pretend to understand the problem.”

Verb

▲

Present participle for engage in an imaginative game or fantasy

“It was a huge adventure and we'd play silly games and pretend we were pirates on a quest for gold.”

Verb

▲

Present participle for behave so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not

going through the motions

putting on a false front

giving the appearance of

playing possum

making a pretence of

acting like

going through the motions of

creating out of thin air

making out like

doing an impression of

masquerading as

disguising yourself

posing as

passing oneself off as

putting up a front of

taking on

making a show

making a pretense

presenting a false front

presenting a false face

putting on a pretense

hamming

playing to the gallery

circulating bad money

assuming the character of

disguising oneself as

representing oneself as

favouring^UK

favoring^US

putting on a false display

giving a false identity to

following in footsteps

putting up a smoke screen

more ❯

“They could pretend that they in fact had hands toughened by manual labor in the somewhat mythical Australian outback.”

Verb

▲

Going through the motions of having

going through the motions of having

Verb

▲

Present participle for to tell a lie or something that is untrue

shoveling^US

shovelling^UK

departing from the truth

inventing a story

making up a story

forswearing oneself

not telling the truth

telling a terminological inexactitude

telling a fib

creating fiction

speaking with forked tongue

telling a little white lie

pulling the wool over someone's eyes

pulling someone's leg

saying something untrue

perjuring oneself

putting on the wrong track

breaking promise

committing perjury

bearing false witness

throwing off the scent

putting up a front

putting on

sending on a wild goose chase

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Verb

▲

Present participle for appear to be or do something, especially falsely

setting oneself up as

asserting that one is

implying that one is

maintaining that one is

passing oneself off as

pointing to

proclaiming that one is

representing oneself as

feigning the identity of

giving the impression

predicating

making somebody believe

more ❯

Verb

▲

Present participle for make a show of

Verb

▲

Present participle for to make jokes, especially for purposes of teasing someone

mucking someone about

satirizing^US

satirising^UK

taking the piss out of

making a monkey out of

treating with contempt

putting on

goading

pulling someone's leg

rotting

sneering

hazing

holding up to ridicule

pulling someone's chain

annoying

harassing

treating contemptuously

playing a practical joke

gambolling^UK

gamboling^US

playing a practical joke on

getting a rise out of

leading up the garden path

having a joke on somebody

having a laugh

clowning

reveling^US

revelling^UK

making a laughing-stock

making someone a laughing stock

laughing out of court

bedeviling^US

bedevilling^UK

tantalizing^US

tantalising^UK

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Verb

▲

Present participle for to deceive or fool someone

Verb

▲

Present participle for to quibble over trivial matters

Verb

▲

Present participle for assume the existence of

theorising^UK

theorizing^US

having sneaking suspicion

taking as a hypothesis

taking stock in

taking as gospel truth

having a sneaking suspicion

coming to the conclusion

drawing the inference

gauging^UK

gaging^US

visualizing^US

visualising^UK

seeing something coming

realizing^US

realising^UK

jumping to conclusions

taking it for granted

recognizing^US

recognising^UK

building castles in air

taking something read

taking something as given

thinking it likely that

having as one's opinion

seeing handwriting on wall

having a sneaking feeling

expressing an opinion

reading between lines

reflecting on

kicking around

running it up flagpole

pointing the finger at

entertaining the idea

contemplating the possibility of

telling

taking something on board

betting one's bottom dollar

subscribing to the opinion

forming an opinion of

making a guess at

making an estimate of

having a sneaking suspicion of

jumping to a conclusion

prejudicating

judging prematurely

jumping to conclusions about

making a hasty assessment about

more ❯

Verb

▲

Present participle for act

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What is another word for pretending?

Need synonyms for pretending? Here's a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead.

Related Words and Phrases

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