Pretend vs False - What's the difference?
pretend | false |
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 * 2009 , "Vanity publishing", The Economist , 13 Apr 2009:
To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).
* Milton
* 2007 , The Guardian , 29 Oct 2007:
To lay claim (to) (an ability, status, advantage, etc.). (originally used without to )
* Dryden
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.25:
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:
(obsolete) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
* Milton
(obsolete) To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.
* Shakespeare
(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 […].
Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect.
*{{quote-book, year=1551, year_published=1888
, title= Based on factually incorrect premises: false legislation
Spurious, artificial.
:
*
*:At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy?; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
(lb) Of a state in Boolean logic that indicates a negative result.
Uttering falsehood; dishonest or deceitful.
:
Not faithful or loyal, as to obligations, allegiance, vows, etc.; untrue; treacherous.
:
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:I to myself was false , ere thou to me.
Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous.
:
*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
*:whose false foundation waves have swept away
Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.
(lb) Out of tune.
As a verb pretend
is .As an adjective false is
(label) one of two states of a boolean variable; logic.pretend
English
Verb
(en verb)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.’}}
- 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.
- This let him know, / Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend / Surprisal.
- 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.
- Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend .
- 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.
- Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.
- Lest that too heavenly form, pretended / To hellish falsehood, snare them.
- Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state.
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeExternal links
* *false
English
Adjective
(er)A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society, section=Part 1, publisher=Clarendon Press, location=Oxford, editor= , volume=1, page=217 , passage=Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.}}
