What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Apparent vs Pretended - What's the difference?

apparent | pretended | Related terms |

As an adjective apparent

is capable of being seen, or easily seen; open to view; visible to the eye; within sight or view.

As a verb pretended is

past tense of pretend.

apparent

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Capable of being seen, or easily seen; open to view; visible to the eye; within sight or view.
  • * 1667, (John Milton), (Paradise Lost) , ,
  • […] Hesperus, that led / The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, / Rising in clouded majesty, at length / Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, / And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.
  • Clear or manifest to the understanding; plain; evident; obvious; known; palpable; indubitable.
  • * (William Shakespeare), ,
  • Salisbury: It is apparent foul-play; and ’tis shame / That greatness should so grossly offer it: / So thrive it in your game! and so, farewell.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 20
  • When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries.
  • Appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, but not necessarily opposed to, true or real); seeming.
  • * 1785, (Thomas Reid), Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man , Essay II (“Of the Powers we have by means of our External Senses”), Chapter XIX (“Of Matter and of Space”),
  • What (George Berkeley) calls visible magnitude was by astronomers called apparent magnitude.
  • * 1848 , , (The History of England from the Accession of James the Second) ,
  • To live on terms of civility, and even of apparent friendship.
  • * 1911 , , “”,
  • This apparent motion is due to the finite velocity of light, and the progressive motion of the observer with the earth, as it performs its yearly course about the sun.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}

    Usage notes

    * The word (term) has two common uses that are almost in opposition. One means roughly “clear; clearly true”, and serves to make a statement more decisive: *: It was apparent that no one knew the answer. (=No one knew the answer, and it showed.) * The other is roughly “seeming; to all appearances”, and serves to make a statement less decisive: *: The apparent source of the hubbub was a stray kitten. (=There was a stray kitten, and it seemed to be the source of the hubbub.) * The same ambivalence occurs with the derived adverb (apparently), which usually means “seemingly” but can also mean “clearly”, especially when it is modified by another adverb, such as (quite).

    Synonyms

    * (easy to see) visible, distinct, plain, obvious, clear * (easy to understand) distinct, plain, obvious, clear, certain, evident, manifest, indubitable, notorious, transparent * (seeming to be the case) illusory, superficial

    Antonyms

    * (within sight or view) hidden, invisible * (clear to the understanding) ambiguous, obscure

    Derived terms

    * apparency * apparent horizon * apparent time * apparently * apparentness * heir apparent

    References

    * ----

    pretended

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (pretend)
  • ----

    pretend

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To claim, allege, especially when falsely or as a form of deliberate deception.
  • * 1749 , (Henry Fielding), Tom Jones , XVIII.23:
  • *:"After what past at Upton, so soon to engage in a new amour with another woman, while I fancied, and you pretended , your heart was bleeding for me!"
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=5 citation , passage=‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’}}
  • * 2009 , "Vanity publishing", The Economist , 13 Apr 2009:
  • I have nothing but contempt for people who hire ghost-writers. But at least most faux authors have the decency to pretend that they are sweating blood over "their" book.
  • To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).
  • * Milton
  • This let him know, / Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend / Surprisal.
  • * 2007 , The Guardian , 29 Oct 2007:
  • Gap and other clothes manufacturers should stop using small subcontractors because they are difficult to control. Instead, they should open up their own fully-owned production facilities so that they cannot pretend ignorance when abuses are committed.
  • To lay claim (to) (an ability, status, advantage, etc.). (originally used without to )
  • * Dryden
  • Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend .
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.25:
  • People observed the diversity of schools and the acerbity of their disputes, and decided that all alike were pretending to knowledge which was in fact unattainable.
  • To make oneself appear (to) do or be doing something; to engage in make-believe.
  • * 1814 , (Jane Austen), Mansfield Park :
  • *:"The truth is, Ma'am," said Mrs. Grant, pretending to whisper across the table to Mrs. Norris, "that Dr. Grant hardly knows what the natural taste of our apricot is [...]."
  • * 2003 , Duncan Campbell, The Guardian , 23 Jan 2003:
  • Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.
  • (obsolete) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
  • * Milton
  • Lest that too heavenly form, pretended / To hellish falsehood, snare them.
  • (obsolete) To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state.
  • (obsolete) To hold before one; to extend.
  • *1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.11:
  • *:Pastorella […] Was by the Captaine all this while defended, / Who, minding more her safety then himselfe, / His target alwayes over her pretended […].
  • Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See