feign
Put on act
To feign is to pretend or fake—to put on a false appearance of something.
You might feign illness to skip work, feign interest in a boring story, or feign surprise at news you already knew: She feigned sleep until he left the room.
The word implies deliberate deception, though often for minor social purposes rather than serious fraud.
Act as though
- fakeNot the real thing
- simulateImitate through modeling
- actDeed or performance
- bluffCalculated false front
affect · pose · play-act · make-believe · impersonate · put-on · sham · counterfeit
Cause false belief
hoodwink · con · fool · beguile · delude · bamboozle · dissimulate · double-cross
Fake illness to avoid work
- hypochondriaExcessive illness worry
- shirkEvade one's obligations
- dodgeAvoid by quick movement
- goldbrickingFeigning effort to avoid labor
Identity-concealing alteration
cover · camouflage · facade · front · veneer · guise · smokescreen · shroud
Feigning belief or feeling
- hollowEmpty within
- affectedArtificially contrived behavior
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
- melodramaticExaggeratedly emotional in expression
pretend
Act as though
bluff · affect · pose · play-act · make-believe · impersonate · put-on · sham · counterfeit · dissemble
deceive
Cause false belief
dupe · hoodwink · con · fool · beguile · delude · bamboozle · dissimulate · double-cross · falsify
malinger
Fake illness to avoid work
- hypochondriaExcessive illness worry
- shirkEvade one's obligations
- dodgeAvoid by quick movement
goldbricking · excuse · avoid · skive
disguise
Identity-concealing alteration
hide · cover · camouflage · facade · front · veneer · guise · smokescreen · shroud · conceal
insincere
Feigning belief or feeling
- hollowEmpty within
- affectedArtificially contrived behavior
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
acting
Temporarily holding position
portrayal · drama · stage · thespian · dramatize · perform · enact · play · pantomime · ham
- impersonationimpersonator, mimic, imitate, imitation, impressionist
- pretend playmake believe, pretend, pretend play, dress-up, dollhouse
- acting verbspretend, perform, portray, enact, play a role
- pretendingpretend, pretending, fake, make-believe, simulate
- concealmentconceal, hiding, concealing, concealed, hide
- deceiversliar, liars, deceiver, fraud, fake
feignactual
Existing in fact
mean · be authentic · feel · experience · embody
- feigned humilityFake self-effacement
- feign ignoranceFake lack of knowledge
- feigned ignorancePretending not to know
- feigned surpriseFalse show of shock
- feigning injuryPretending to be hurt
- feigned interestSimulated engagement with something