The enactment of a pretense:
— It was just pretend.

synoniem: make-believe.

Make believe with the intent to deceive.

synoniemen: affect, dissemble, feign, sham.

Roget 617: pretend, plead, allege; shelter oneself under the plea of; excuse etc. (vindicate) 937; lend a color to; furnish a handle etc. n.; make a pretext of, make a handle of; use as a plea etc. n.; take one's stand upon, make capital out of, pretend etc. (lie) 544.    ... meer laten zien

Roget 544: be false etc. adj., be a liar etc. 548; speak falsely etc. adv.; tell a lie etc. 546; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness.    misstate, misquote, miscite^†, misreport, misrepresent; belie, falsify, pervert, distort; put a false construction upon etc. (misinterpret); prevaricate, equivocate, quibble; palter, palter to the understanding; repondre en Normand [Fr.]; trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose.    garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to; give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon; color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider; varnish right and puzzle wrong; exaggerate etc. 549; blague^†.    invent, fabricate; trump up, get up; force, fake, hatch, concoct; romance etc. (imagine) 515; cry 'wolf!'.    dissemble, dissimulate; feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe; play possum; play false, play a double game; coquet; act a part, play a part; affect etc. 855; simulate, pass off for; counterfeit, sham, make a show of; malinger; say the grapes are sour.    cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror; hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors; commend the poisoned chalice to the lips" [Macbeth]; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces [Lat.]; deceive etc. 545.    ... meer laten zien

Nederlands: femelen, huichelen, kwezelen

Behave unnaturally or affectedly.

synoniemen: act, dissemble.

Nederlands: kwezelen, femelen, huichelen

Put forward a claim and assert right or possession of.

Put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation:
— I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong.

synoniemen: guess, hazard, venture.

Represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like.

synoniemen: make, make believe.

Nederlands: maken

State insincerely:
— She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber.
— She pretends to be an expert on wine.

synoniem: profess.

Roget 535: assert; make an assertion etc. n.; have one's say; say, affirm, predicate, declare, state; protest, profess.    put forth, put forward; advance, allege, propose, propound, enunciate, broach, set forth, hold out, maintain, contend, pronounce, pretend.    depose, depone, aver, avow, avouch, asseverate, swear; make oath, take one's oath; make an affidavit, swear an affidavit, put in an affidavit; take one's Bible oath, kiss the book, vow, vitam impendere vero [Lat.]; swear till one is black in the face, swear till one is blue in the face, swear till all's blue; be sworn, call Heaven to witness; vouch, warrant, certify, assure, swear by bell book and candle.    swear by etc. (believe) 484; insist upon, take one's stand upon; emphasize, lay stress on; assert roundly, assert positively; lay down, lay down the law; raise one's voice, dogmatize, have the last word; rap out; repeat; reassert, reaffirm.    announce etc. (information) 527; acknowledge etc. (assent) 488; attest etc. (evidence) 467; adjure etc. (put to one's oath) 768.    ... meer laten zien

Imagined as in a play:
— Dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish.

synoniem: make-believe.