feign
To pretend you feel something when you do not.
To deliberately give a false appearance of a feeling, attitude, or reaction.
To pretend you are sick or injured.
To pretend to have an illness, injury, or physical or mental condition, especially in order to avoid work, duty, or responsibility.
To make up a false excuse or story.
To invent or contrive something false, such as an excuse, explanation, or story, to mislead others.
- Base: feign
- 3rd Person Singular: feigns
- Present Participle: feigning
- Past: feigned
feign death
1pretend to be dead
To act like you are dead.
- In the film, the hero feigns death to fool the guards.
- The animal lay still, feigning death when threatened.
- He tried to feign death, but the medics quickly noticed he was breathing.
feign ignorance
1pretend not to know
To pretend you don’t know something.
- When confronted with the email, he feigned ignorance.
- They feigned ignorance about the new policy changes.
- She feigned ignorance of the rules, but she had signed the form.
- He feigned ignorance about the damage.
feign illness
1pretend to be sick
To pretend you are sick.
- He feigned illness and skipped the exam.
- The coach accused him of feigning illness to get out of training.
- She was punished for feigning illness at work.
- He feigned illness to stay home.
feign interest
1pretend to be interested
To act interested even when you aren’t.
- He feigned interest in the presentation to be polite.
- She couldn’t even feign interest in the topic.
- I tried to feign interest, but my mind kept wandering.
- She feigned interest in my story.
feign sleep
1pretend to be asleep
To act like you are sleeping.
- She feigned sleep so she wouldn’t have to answer questions.
- He feigned sleep and listened as they talked in the hallway.
- The child feigned sleep when his parents came in.
- I feigned sleep on the bus.
feign surprise
1pretend to be surprised
To act surprised when you are not.
- Try to feign surprise when you open the gift.
- He feigned surprise at the announcement, but he was in on the plan.
- She feigned surprise when the results came in.
- I feigned surprise for my friend.