feign
/feɪn/ · feign
verb
- To make a false show or pretence of; to counterfeit or simulate. The pupil feigned sickness on the day of his exam.
- To imagine; to invent; to pretend. He feigned that he had gone home at the appointed time.
- To make an action as if doing one thing, but actually doing another, for example to trick an opponent. The chess player feigned a move to distract her opponent.
Did you know? The word 'feign' has been used in literature to describe the actions of characters in plays and novels, often to convey a sense of deception or trickery.