pretend English · revision 5950

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=la praetendo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /prɪˈtend/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English pretenden, [[bor|fro|pretendre|t=to lay claim]] or directly [[bor|la|praetendere|t=to stretch in front, spread before; to put forward as an excuse, allege]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from prae “before” (see [[pre-]]) and tendere “to stretch”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from the PIE root [[ine-pro|*ten-|t=to stretch]].^(Etymonline) See [[tend]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To claim or profess to have, to put oneself forward: about 1380 in the OED, probably 1382 in Wycliffe in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The main modern sense, to feign or put forward a false claim, is from about 1400, 1402 in Barnhart.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The older sense, simply to lay claim to, lies behind the royal pretenders of English history in the 1690s;^(Etymonline) ''pretender'' meant one who intends something in 1591, a claimant from 1622 and a claimant to a throne from 1697, in Dryden.^(Barnhart 1988) To make pretence intransitively is from 1526,^(Barnhart 1988) and to make believe in play from 1865.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In the 17th century pretend could also mean to court a woman, after a French sense.^(Etymonline) The noun, an act of pretending in imagination or play, is from 1888, from children's talk;^(Etymonline) as an adjective, “imaginary”, it dates from the early 20th century.^(NODE 1998) ''Pretence'' and ''pretension'' are from the 15th and 17th centuries.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – to claim, profess.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1402 – to feign, claim falsely.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1526 – to make pretence.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1697 – ''pretender'' to a throne.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1865 – to make believe in play.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1888 – the noun, make-believe.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To act as if something is true when it is not; to [[feign]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To imagine as part of a game; to make believe: ''let's pretend we're pirates''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To [[claim]] falsely: ''he pretended to be a doctor''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(pretend to)'' To lay claim to a title, quality or skill.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(informal)'' Imaginary; make-believe.^(NODE 1998)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pretended]]

+ * [[unpretended]]

+ * [[unpretending]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pretender]]

+ * [[pretense]]

+ * [[pretension]]

+ * [[pretentious]]

+ * [[pretence]]

+ * [[tend]]

+ * [[extend]]

+ * [[intend]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}