# pretending

/pɹiˈtɛndɪŋ/ (US) · /pɹɪtˈɛndɪŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/pretending
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. acting as if

verb · CEFR B1

acting like something is true when you know it is not.

For teachers: the present participle of 'pretend', describing the action of feigning a state, quality, or identity.

- He was just pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to talk.
- By pretending that the budget cuts were merely temporary, the administration managed to avoid a full-scale strike during the election cycle.

Usage: often followed by 'to be' or a 'that' clause.

### 2. make-believe

noun · CEFR B1

the act of imagining or playing a part.

For teachers: the act of engaging in make-believe or imaginative play. Often uncountable in this sense.

- The children spent the whole afternoon lost in a world of pretending.
- The psychologist noted that the child's elaborate pretending served as a sophisticated coping mechanism for dealing with social anxiety.

Usage: frequently used as the subject or object of a sentence to describe a state of mind.

## Examples

- The children are tired of all the pretending.
- After years of pretending, she finally admitted that she never actually liked the taste of coffee.
- The diplomat's constant pretending eventually eroded the trust of his colleagues, who grew weary of his inability to speak with genuine conviction.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.