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feign

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To feign is defined as to make up a story or act in a way that you don't feel.

(verb)

An example of to feign is to seem like you’re sick to get out of going to school.

See feign in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

Obsolete to form; shape
to make up (a story, excuse, etc.); invent; fabricate
to make a false show of; pretend; imitate; simulate
Archaic to imagine

Origin: ME feinen < OFr feindre (prp. feignant) < L fingere, to touch, handle, shape: see figure

intransitive verb

to pretend; dissemble

Related Forms:

feigner noun

See feign in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb feigned, feign·ing, feigns

verb, transitive

a. To give a false appearance of: feign sleep.
b. To represent falsely; pretend to: feign authorship of a novel.
To imitate so as to deceive: feign another's voice.
To fabricate: feigned an excuse.
Archaic To invent or imagine.

verb, intransitive

To pretend; dissemble.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English feinen

Origin: , from Old French feindre

Origin: , from Latin fingere, to shape, form; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots

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