Feign

 WORD OF THE DAY

feign / verb / FAYN

Definition

1a: to give a false appearance of 

1b: induce as a false impression

1c: to assert as if true 

1d: pretend

2a (archaic): invent, imagine

2b: to give fictional representation to

3 (obsolete): disguise, conceal

4: pretend, dissemble

Examples

"For his part, Hopkins said Collins had surprised him the most this preseason, adding that he's never seen a 6-9 player who can do the things his fellow freshman can on the court. Hopkins … also didn't attempt to feign surprise when told that every single one of his teammates had mentioned him by name when asked the same question." 

— Ben Roberts, The Lexington (Kentucky) Herald Leader, 21 Oct. 2021

I wince, feigning interest in a TV Guide and mumbling a hello.

— Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1991

Success keeps her busy. "Relaxation?" she asks, feigning puzzlement. "What's that?"

— Jennifer Johnston, New Woman, November 1990

Did You Know?

Feign is all about faking it, but that hasn't always been so. 

In one of its earliest senses, feign meant "to fashion, form, or shape." 

That meaning is true to the term's Latin ancestor: the verb fingere, which also means "to shape." 

The current senses of feign still retain the essence of the Latin source, since to feign something, such as surprise or an illness, requires one to fashion an impression or shape an image. 

Several other English words that trace to the same ancestor refer to things that are shaped with either the hands, as in figure and effigy, or the imagination, as in fiction and figment.