feign Definition
feign (fān)
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
Etymology: ME feinen < OFr feindre (prp. feignant) < L fingere, to touch, handle, shape: see figure
intransitive verb
to pretend; dissemble
feign Related Forms
feign′er noun
feign Synonyms
feign Usage Examples
Object
- unconsciousness: Matt feigned unconsciousness, and was checked for ABC ( airway, breathing, circulation ).
- indifference: Feigning indifference, she plays the coquette's cheapest trick.
- madness: Interesting article about a cycle of folk tales about feign madness, associated with the village of Gotham in Nottinghamshire.
- insanity: On graduation in 1984 he went to work as a prison officer, only escaping from a life contract by feigning insanity.
- ignorance: I think she'd feign ignorance ( I would ).
- innocence: Reaching the height of ruthless ambition is achieved by feigning innocence.
Infinitive complement
believe: My darling had told her that I was her cousin, and Laura feigned to believe it.
Adjective complement
dead: So Panaumbe, having first seized hold of a good bludgeon, feigned dead.
Modifying Another Word
- then: The KDG rode toward the enemy and then feigned a retirement.
- not: Her madness, unlike Hamlet's antic disposition, is real, not feigned, her gentle soul having collapsed under stress.
- even: At fourteen I even feigned illness to watch World Championship Bowls instead of going to school.
- simply: I would simply feign an inability to decide which of two playthings I really wanted.
- also: Jack also feigns ' disgust ' at the attention his team-mate Stevie Convery has been recently receiving from the press... .
- n't: Do n't feign incompetence around the house in some feeble attempt to get her to " do it for you " .

