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# pretend

«pretend» in Mova's school dictionary: **true when it is not, for fun or to trick someone** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (pretend, pretends, pretended, pretending); adjective (pretend — informal, children's: pretend money)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To act as if something is true when it is not, for fun or to trick someone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#m1)

2) To play a make-believe game: «Let's pretend we're pirates». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#m2)

3) Adjective (informal): not real, make-believe: a pretend shop. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In play: pretend play (role-play) helps imagination — playing house, shop, superheroes. In truth lessons: pretending to be ill to miss school is lying; tricky people online may pretend to be children. In stories: characters pretend to fool someone (the wolf pretended to be Grandma). Phrases: pretend to be, pretend that, let's pretend, pretend play, pretend not to notice.

### examples

- Let's pretend we're astronauts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x1)
- The wolf pretended to be Grandma. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x2)
- He pretended to be asleep. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x3)
- We played with pretend money in our shop. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x4)
- Don't pretend you didn't see it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x5)
- Someone online might pretend to be a child — be careful. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x6)
- She pretended not to hear. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x7)
- Possums pretend to be dead when they're scared. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x8)
- Then she pretended to be asleep again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/#x9)

### note

Regular verb: pretended. «Pretend to do» or «pretend that…». Pretending in a game is fun; pretending to fool someone in a harmful way is lying. A false friend in some languages: «pretend» in English does not mean «claim a right» or «expect».

### In the corpora

- [The film is pretend, but the feelings it makes are real, and they can stay with you after the screen goes dark.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/56-scary-films-nightmares-and-sad-endings/1/)
- [For stories and pretend games that randomness is fun.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/5-hallucinations-confident-made-up-answers/5/)
- [When a bot pretends to be a pirate or a footballer, it is still pretending; quotes it invents were never really said.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/5-hallucinations-confident-made-up-answers/13/)
- [Online, anyone can pretend to be anyone, and now a bot can pretend too.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/13-strangers-hooks-and-too-perfect-messages/0/)
- [People and bots online may pretend to be someone else; asking for photos is a big warning sign.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/13-strangers-hooks-and-too-perfect-messages/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pretend» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pretend/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.