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feign

feign
F f

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [feyn]
    • /feɪn/
    • /feɪn/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [feyn]
    • /feɪn/

Definitions of feign word

  • verb with object feign to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of: to feign sickness. 1
  • verb with object feign to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse. 1
  • verb with object feign to imitate deceptively: to feign another's voice. 1
  • verb without object feign to make believe; pretend: She's only feigning, she isn't really ill. 1
  • noun feign Pretend to be affected by (a feeling, state, or injury). 1
  • transitive verb feign fake, pretend 1

Information block about the term

Origin of feign

First appearance:

before 1250
One of the 11% oldest English words
1250-1300; Middle English fei(g)nen < Old French feign-, present stem of feindre < Latin fingere to shape, invent, feign

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Feign

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

feign popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 92% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

feign usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for feign

verb feign

  • play — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
  • dissimulate — to disguise or conceal under a false appearance; dissemble: to dissimulate one's true feelings about a rival.
  • bluff — A bluff is an attempt to make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it.
  • assume — If you assume that something is true, you imagine that it is true, sometimes wrongly.
  • invent — to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

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See also

Matching words

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