feigned interest
Hollow attentive performance
Feigned interest is pretended attentiveness or curiosity—the polite mask worn when someone's story bores you but social convention demands you appear engaged.
It involves nodding, maintaining eye contact, and offering empty responses: She listened with feigned interest as he described his stamp collection.
The phrase often appears when the pretense is detected or confessed.
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- fakeNot the real thing
- fake smileFeigned expression of happiness
- politeShowing good manners
- noddingMoving head affirmatively
glazed · bored · distracted · tuning out · smile · hollow · conversation · courtesy · yawning · obligatory · social obligation · listening · vacant · blank stare · small talk · perfunctory · insincere · going through the motions
- fake emotionscrocodile tears, fake smile, false modesty, forced laugh, fake concern
- Social Pretensepretense, facade, affectation, phoniness, insincerity
- Empty Gestureslip service, crocodile tears, token effort, empty promise, going through motions
- office politicsoffice politics, backstabbing, power plays, favoritism, nepotism