pretend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“For-profit providers are part of the youth baseball economy and we should not pretend that they have no effect on what families spend,” said Greg Casterioto, a spokesman for Perfect Game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
But I won’t pretend my hands are clean.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
And this "enabled the club to pretend that such funds represented operating income".
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Or, when caught, how to pretend to be shut down.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
They take another series of photographs in the retiring room—me sitting at the piano, on the settee—and by the time those are finished I’ve nearly sweated through my pretend uniform.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
The fires are not a freak event, and no one in Greece pretends they are.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
In other words, European rearmament will take time, and nobody even pretends that European troops are today fully prepared to replace American brigades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
"He is not happy, he pretends he is happy," said Tamim.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
The bot’s final product is exactly that: an essay that pretends to divulge, to confess, to promise, and to portray.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
One pretends to be a tiger and jumps straight through the paper screen, tackling his opponent without bothering to see what he was posing as.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
He then pretended to board the old Air Force One, only to secretly switch planes by hiding in a refueling truck, due to security threats.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Instead, Owens pretended there are numerous holes in the case.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
He pretended the money was for "football equipment, council liabilities, Companies House fees, charity registration costs and business penalties".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Writes Ms. Aviv: “He pretended to speak casually, Andrea said, but she noticed a defiant thrill on his face.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
She pretended to be deeply interested in her fabrics.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Anthropic’s model was conducting a test involving interactions with randomly selected websites when it submitted the tip pretending to be someone who might have information about an unsolved case, police said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
El-Sayed has figured out how to talk to the people who love Fox without pretending that the network is something it isn’t.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
It would be strange for the Dodgers to bench Shohei Ohtani, but it’s clear that pretending he’s healthy enough to provide meaningful at-bats isn’t helping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
At one Scottish school, staff have decided that pretending AI doesn't exist is not an option.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
When we need to put our jackets on, we go home, back to pretending that we’re fine, just fine.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Vocabulary lists containing pretend
"Eleven"
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"Eleven," Vocabulary from the short story
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"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, Chapters 1–3
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