pretends

verb

present tense third-person singular of pretend
1
as in poses
to take on a false or deceptive appearance I pretended that I didn't care that my ex had a new man in her life

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in assumes
to present a false appearance of as if I would ever pretend illness just to take off a day from work

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pretends The show only pretends to be organized around romantic couples. — Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 27 June 2026 The person on the phone pretends to be IT support and tries to convince the employee to install remote desktop software. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 13 June 2026 Pig-butchering scams, in which a stranger pretends to befriend you and then coaxes you into putting money into a cryptocurrency scam, don’t involve that same act now urgency. — Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 1 June 2026 Elsa argues with her mother, Isabel doesn’t like to be questioned and pretends everything’s all right, while Amalia hangs with dodgy characters and makes claims that seem real only to her. — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 25 May 2026 This team is improved, has a deeper roster, no longer pretends Kris Bryant is a major league player and features more functional pitchers (No, seriously). — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026 The narrator of Lerner’s tight, astonishingly trenchant new book pretends to record part of his conversations with his elderly mentor and then uses his memory to write a profile. — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026 The sequence in which Carmy tries to talk Richie down from a panic attack feels equally dynamic and alive right to its conclusion — when Carmy pretends they’ve gotten locked in, just as Carmy once was, to mess with Richie’s head. — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 26 June 2026 Scary Movie 6 spoofed the horror flick by turning the terrifying Christmas mall massacre scene into a laugh out loud moment with Cindy being present when Art the Clown pretends to be a mall Santa. — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretends
  1. poses
  2. assumes
  3. plays
  4. simulates
  5. acts
  6. professes
  7. dissembles
  8. feigns
Verb
  • However, this $50 fee poses a barrier for low-income recipients and doesn't count towards deductibles.
    — Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • Federal authorities have increasingly warned that the group poses a unique challenge.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 1 July 2026
Definition of poses
Verb
  • The Gulf, though legally unchanged, now assumes direct Iranian strike risks.
    — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • Photos of the chefs are right there on the packaging, and the service correctly assumes that their reputations will draw you in.
    — Marisa Malanga, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 June 2026
Definition of assumes
Verb
  • Seeking to reach its third straight World Cup final, France plays Paraguay on July 4 in Philly, and the winner advances to a quarterfinal against Canada or Morocco five days later at Foxborough, Massachusetts.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 1 July 2026
  • Emma D'Arcy plays the adult version of the character across all three seasons.
    — Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 1 July 2026
Definition of plays
Verb
  • Swanson earned the national championship in the Postsecondary Collision Damage Appraisal Division, a competition that simulates the work of professional collision estimators and insurance appraisers, according to a press release from the college.
    — Aurora Beacon-News, Chicago Tribune, 26 June 2026
  • The mission simulates a scenario in which a maneuverable satellite rapidly approaches and inspects another spacecraft that is not cooperating.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 23 June 2026
Definition of simulates
Verb
  • Jay Ravitz acts as a disruptor, embracing ambiguity and questioning the status quo to accelerate innovation.
    — Kate Wieczorek, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • Caffeine acts as a diuretic that pushes fluids out and raises body temperature.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1 July 2026
Definition of acts
Verb
  • Harry Styles professes his love for techno music via a hat during a walk in North London on June 25.
    — Brendan Le, PEOPLE, 29 June 2026
  • All proudly professes himself as a man of faith.
    — Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 2 June 2026
Definition of professes
Verb
  • With his multi-instrumentalist bandmates, PJ Moore and co-songwriter Robert Bell, Buchanan zooms into these exchanges to prolong them or dissembles them into jagged pieces that leave the bigger picture to us.
    — Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 1 Feb. 2026
Definition of dissembles
Verb
  • The heavy side part feigns an almost asymmetrical look, which offsets heaviness on the ends and frames the face in a fun way.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 16 June 2026
  • Below, Warren Zaire-Emery feigns a run towards his own goal to get on the blind side of a forward.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 5 June 2026
Definition of feigns

Browse Nearby Words

pretending
pretends
pretense
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pretends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretends. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on pretends

Nglish: Translation of pretends for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All