dissimulation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissimulacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French dissimulation,^[5][2][6][7] recorded in the 12th century,^[5][2] and directly borrowed from Latin dissimulātiō (“a disguising, concealment”),^[2][3] the noun of action from dissimulō (“to make unlike, conceal, disguise”).^[5][2][7] The verb is from dis- (“not, opposite of”) and simulō (“to make like, imitate”),^[2] from the stem of similis (“like, resembling”), from Old Latin semol (“together”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; as one, together with”).^[2] Dictionary.com gives an Anglo-French stage, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged a Middle French one.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instance of dissembling, in the plural: about 1384, in Chaucer's Hous of Fame.^[5] The general sense, feigning or hypocrisy, follows about 1386 in the Summoner's Tale.^[5] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the late 14th century.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense has held steady since Middle English: concealing what is real under a false appearance.^[5][2] Benson finds the word twice in Chaucer and once in Gower.^[9] The Book of St Albans (1486) uses it as a fanciful name for a company of small birds, recorded until 1688.^[5][6] Milton's "his gray dissimulation" in Paradise Regain'd (1671) stretches it to a disguised form.^[5][6][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as dissembling, hypocrisy and false pretensions, quoting South for the milder sense of merely hiding one's mind.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – an act of dissembling.^[5]
• c. 1386 – the action of dissembling; feigning, hypocrisy.^[5]
• 1486 – a company or flock of small birds (obsolete by 1688).^[5]
• 1671 – disguised form, in Milton (obsolete, rare).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of dissembling; hiding one's real feelings or intentions under a false appearance: He hid his dislike by long practice in dissimulation.^[4][5][6]
2. False pretense; hypocrisy.^[4][5][6]
3. (obsolete, 1486–1688) A company or flock of small birds.^[5][6]

Related words

• dissimulate
• dissemble
• simulation
• similar

Usage notes

The Shorter Oxford quotes Steele's distinction: "Simulation is a Pretence of what is not, and Dissimulation a Concealment of what is."^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.