feigned ignorance
Deliberate false naivety
Feigned ignorance is pretending not to know something you actually know.
The tactic serves various purposes: avoiding responsibility He feigned ignorance about the missing funds, drawing out information from others, or maintaining plausible deniability.
In rhetoric, the technique is called Socratic irony—asking naive questions to expose flaws in an opponent's reasoning.
- pretendAct as though
- naiveInnocently unsuspecting
- playing dumbPretending not to understand
- obliviousLacking any awareness
- none the wiserStill not knowing
out of the loop · clueless · innocent · sly · evasive · deflect · shrug · blank stare · denial · coy · disingenuous · willful blindness · plausible deniability · poker face · sidestep · dodge · bluff · mask
- passive aggressionsilent treatment, backhanded compliments, backhanded compliment, cold shoulder, eye rolling
- manipulationgaslighting, guilt tripping, blame-shifting, brainwashing, guilt trip
- manipulation tacticsgaslighting, guilt trip, guilt-tripping, guilt tripping, emotional blackmail
- self-deceptiondenial, delusion, wishful thinking, rationalization, willful blindness
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
- provocationbaiting, goading, taunting, incitement, instigation
feigned ignorancecandor
Unguarded truthfulness
forthrightness · transparency · intellectual honesty · straight talk · plain dealing
feign, feigned, feigning, feigns, feints, feinted, feinting, ignorance, ignorant