Pretending

How to spell pretending

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pretending

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pretending mean?

1. verbGiving a false appearance or acting as though something is true when it is not.

Pretending in a sentence

• She was pretending to be asleep when her manager walked past the desk.

• He kept pretending that the missed deadline was not a problem.

Where does pretending come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base verb 'pretend' comes from the Latin praetendere, which literally meant 'to stretch forth' or 'to hold something out in front', built from prae- 'before, in front' and tendere 'to stretch'. In Roman use it carried the sense of putting forward a reason or excuse, and so it came to mean alleging or claiming something, often as a cover. English borrowed it in the late 1300s, partly by way of Old French, and the meaning narrowed toward making a false show or putting on an act. The same tendere root stretches into a whole family of English words such as 'tension', 'extend', and 'tendon', all carrying the idea of pulling or reaching out. The -ing form simply adds the ordinary present participle ending, and the spelling stays regular because the silent trap lies in the unstressed first syllable 'pre', which writers sometimes shorten or muddle in faster relatives of the word.

How the word is built

• pre- (before, forth)
• tend (from Latin tendere: to stretch)
• -ing (present participle suffix)