dissemble
Hide true feelings
To dissemble is to conceal one's true feelings, motives, or intentions behind a false appearance.
Unlike lying outright, dissembling involves evasion and misdirection—presenting a misleading front rather than stating falsehoods directly: He dissembled his anxiety with forced cheerfulness.
The word carries connotations of calculated deception, often in political or social contexts where revealing one's hand would be disadvantageous.
Pretend to have
- simulateImitate through modeling
- actDeed or performance
- fakeNot the real thing
- shamFraudulent imitation
affect · counterfeit · bluff · pose · playact · pretense · charade · put-on
Intentional misleading of others
- misrepresentDepict inaccurately or falsely
- falsifyDistort the truth
- fabricateInvent or manufacture
- misleadCause false belief
dupe · hoodwink · bamboozle · beguile · delude · con · swindle · trickery
External manner shown
- personaAssumed public identity
- frontForward-facing side
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
- semblanceOutward but misleading appearance
veneer · appearance · pretension · incognito · alias · alter-ego · role-play · impersonation
feign
Pretend to have
sham · affect · counterfeit · bluff · pose · playact · pretense · charade · put-on · make-believe
deception
Intentional misleading of others
- misrepresentDepict inaccurately or falsely
- falsifyDistort the truth
- fabricateInvent or manufacture
mislead · dupe · hoodwink · bamboozle · beguile · delude · con · swindle · trickery · fraud
guise
External manner shown
- personaAssumed public identity
- frontForward-facing side
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
semblance · veneer · appearance · pretension · incognito · alias · alter-ego · role-play · impersonation
hide
Conceal or pelt
shroud · obscure · camouflage · cover-up · suppress · withhold · secrete · bury · smokescreen · screen
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- pretendingpretend, pretending, fake, feign, make-believe
- putting on an actput on an act, pretend, fake it, masquerade, sham
- concealmentconceal, hiding, concealing, concealed, hide
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
dissemblereveal
Make something visible
disclose · confess · expose · tell the truth · come clean
dissemblebe authentic
Act without pretense
be honest · wear one's heart on one's sleeve · speak plainly · level with · show one's true colors
dissembling, dissembler, dissembled, dissembles, dissemblers