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Pretend vs Get - What's the difference?

pretend | get |

As verbs the difference between pretend and get

is that pretend is while get is (label) to obtain; to acquire.

As a noun get is

offspring or get can be (british|regional) a git or get can be (judaism) a jewish writ of divorce.

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

    get

    English

    (wikipedia get)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) geten, from (etyl) 'to seize'. Cognate with Latin prehendo.

    Verb

  • (label) To obtain; to acquire.
  • (label) To receive.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.}}
  • To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get .
  • (label) To become.
  • * (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
  • His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.}}
  • (label) To cause to become; to bring about.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
  • (label) To fetch, bring, take.
  • * Bible, (w) xxxi. 13
  • Get thee out from this land.
  • * (Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • Heto the strong town of Mega.
  • (label) To cause to do.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Get him to say his prayers.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=5, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”}}
  • To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • to get rid of fools and scoundrels
  • (label) To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.
  • to get a mile
  • (label) To cause to come or go or move.
  • (label) To cause to be in a certain status or position.
  • * (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), Retro me, Sathana , line 1
  • Get thee behind me.
  • (label) To begin (doing something).
  • (label) To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).
  • (label) To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).
  • To be able, permitted (to do something); to have the opportunity (to do something).
  • To be subjected to.
  • * '>citation
  • Do you mind? Excuse me / I saw you over there / Can I just tell you ¶ Although there are millions of / Cephalophores that wander through this world / You've got something extra going on / I think you probably know ¶ You probably get that a lot / I'll bet that people say that a lot to you, girl
  • (label) To be.
  • *
  • (label) To become ill with or catch (a disease).
  • To catch out, trick successfully.
  • To perplex, stump.
  • (label) To find as an answer.
  • To bring to reckoning; to catch (as a criminal); to effect retribution.
  • (label) To hear completely; catch.
  • (label) To .
  • To beget (of a father).
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
  • * 2009 , (Hilary Mantel), (Wolf Hall) , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 310:
  • Walter had said, dear God, Thomas, it was St fucking Felicity if I'm not mistaken, and her face was to the wall for sure the night I got you.
  • (label) To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out .
  • * (1625-1686)
  • it being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty
  • Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.
  • *2007 , Tom Dyckhoff, Let's move to ..., The Guardian :
  • Money's pouring in somewhere, because Churchgate's got lovely new stone setts, and a cultural quarter (ooh, get her) is promised.
    Usage notes
    In dialects featuring the past participle gotten, the form "gotten" is not used universally as the past participle. Rather, inchoative and concessive uses (with meanings such as "obtain" or "become", or "am permitted to") use "gotten" as their past participle, whereas stative uses (with meanings like "have") use "got" as their past participle http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html] and [http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm, thus enabling users of "gotten"-enabled dialects to make distinctions such as "I've gotten (received) my marks" vs. "I've got (possess) my marks"; a subtle distinction, to be sure, but a useful one. The first example probably means that the person has received them, and has them somewhere, whereas the second probably means that they have them in their hand right now.
    Synonyms
    * (obtain) acquire, come by, have * (receive) receive, be given * (fetch) bring, fetch, retrieve * (become) become * (cause to become) cause to be, cause to become, make * (cause to do) make * (arrive) arrive at, reach * come, go, travel * : go, move * (begin) begin, commence, start * : catch, take * : answer * be able to * dig, follow, make sense of, understand * : be * : catch, come down with * con, deceive, dupe, hoodwink, trick * confuse, perplex, stump * (find as an answer) obtain * : catch, nab, nobble * (physically assault) assault, beat, beat up * catch, hear * (getter) getter
    Antonyms
    * (obtain) lose
    Derived terms
    * beget * forget * from the get-go * get about * get a charge out of * get across * get across to * get action * get after * get ahead of oneself * get a look in * get along * get along with * get around * get around to * get at * get away * get away from * get away with * get back * get back to * get behind * get better * get beyond * get by * get carried away * get done * get down * get going * get in * get in with * get into * get into trouble * get it * get it across one's head * get it into one's head * get it on * get it over with * get knotted * get lost * get moving * get off * get off easy * get off lightly * get off with * get on * get one over on * get one's end away * get one's rocks off * get on in years * get on to * get on with * get out * get out of * get over * get-rich-quick * get round * get round to * get some air * get someone's goat * get stuffed * get the goods on * get there * get the time to * get through * get through to * get to * get to be * get together * get under * get up * get up in * get up to * get well soon * get with the program, get with the programme * go-getter * go-getting * got * have got

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Offspring.
  • * 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 755:
  • ‘You were a high lord's get . Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.’
  • Lineage.
  • (sports, tennis) A difficult return or block of a shot.
  • Something gained.
  • * 2008 , Karen Yampolsky, Falling Out of Fashion (page 73)
  • I had reconnected with the lust of my life while landing a big get for the magazine.

    Etymology 2

    Variant of

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British, regional) A git .
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (Judaism) A Jewish writ of divorce.
  • Statistics

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