feign

feign
 
verb | FAYN
 
What It Means
 
To feign something (such as surprise, ignorance, or sleep) is to pretend to feel or be affected by it.
 
// I would never feign illness just to get out of a test.
 
See the entry >
 
 
Examples of FEIGN
 
“After Eric’s betrayal, Harper has landed at a fund dedicated to so-called impact investing in eco-friendly companies, a real-life financial trend that dovetails with a core ‘Industry’ theme: reflexive cynicism toward for-profit institutions that feign social consciousness.” — Alison Herman, Variety, 2 Aug. 2024
 
Did You Know?
 
Of the many ways Ferris Bueller feigns illness—that is, pretends to be sick—to avoid going to school in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, arguably the most ingenious involves tucking a mannequin version of himself under the blankets of his bed to fool his family. This method of deception provides not only entertaining hijinks but also clues to the origins of the word feign itself. Today, feign is all about faking it, but it hasn’t always been so. One of the word’s oldest meanings is “to fashion, form, or shape,” which echoes that of its Latin source, the verb fingere, meaning “to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, or pretend to be.” It’s one thing to fashion a likeness of oneself as an art project, and another to try and convince your family it’s really you in order to play hooky; it’s this element of deceit that infused other early meanings of feign including “to lie,” “to counterfeit,” and “to forge a document.” Today, people mostly use feign to suggest the act of forming, or giving shape to, false appearances—not of personas (such as, say, that of the Sausage King of Chicago), but rather conditions or feelings, such as happiness, sleep, or outrage.

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German translation of feign
   
feign
[fe;n] IPA Pronunciation Guide
transitive verb
vortaeuschen; friendship, interest, sympathy, feelings also heucheln
to feign illness/madness simulieren, sich krank/verrueckt stellen
to feign sleep/death sich schlafend/tot stellen
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Examples of 'feign' in a sentence
feign
Example sentences from the Collins Corpus
 These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company HarperCollins.
We welcome feedback: report an example sentence to the Collins team. Read more…
And anybody feigning liberation for the people.
The Guardian (2017)
The habit of feigning assent to curtail uncomfortable conversations breeds mistrust and disloyalty at the heart of government.
The Guardian (2020)
The furious Frenchman accused him of feigning injury and refused to shake his hand.
The Guardian (2017)
So often you see bowlers feigning to throw down the striker's stumps after fielding the ball.
The Guardian (2019)
They spent most of that time arguing with the referee, feigning injuries and trying to pick fights.
The Guardian (2018)
The fact that you are in hospital frees you from the guilt and fear that your bosses might think that you're feigning illness.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It was no longer possible for the world to sit passively by and feign ignorance.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It is said that one could have feigned illness.
Kishlansky, Mark A. (editor) Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 1: From the Beginning to 1715 (1995)
Instead they skip school or feign illness.
Steinberg, Laurence & Levine, Ann You and Your Adolescent: A Parents' Guide for Ages 10 to 20 (1990)
He would feign illness and his gran would indulge him.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Example sentences from Collins dictionaries
 These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company HarperCollins.
We welcome feedback: report an example sentence to the Collins team. Read more…
One morning, I didn't want to go to school, and decided to feign illness.
Throw something noisy and feign a rush at him.
You can't feign interest in something you loathe.
to feign an excuse
to feign innocence
to feign madness/sleep/death
to feign not to know
to feign someone's laugh

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fake
1 of 5
adjective

faker; fakest
Synonyms of fake
: not true, real, or genuine: counterfeit, sham
He was wearing a fake mustache.
She held up the bowl to the window light and smiled her fakest smile yet …
—Lee Durkee
From the well-known to the unknown, fake news, misinformation and hate rhetoric are causing harm to many individuals.
—Dolar Popat
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Every step you make, every smile you fake
Sting

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fake

2 of 5
noun (1)
: one that is not what it purports to be: such as
a
: a worthless imitation passed off as genuine
The signature was a fake.
b
: impostor, charlatan
He told everyone that he was a lawyer, but he was just a fake.
c
: a simulated movement in a sports contest (such as a pretended kick, pass, or jump or a quick movement in one direction before going in another) designed to deceive an opponent
d
: a device or apparatus used by a magician to achieve the illusion of magic in a trick
fake

3 of 5
verb (1)
faked; faking
transitive verb

1
: to alter, manipulate, or treat so as to give a spuriously (see spurious sense 2) genuine appearance to : doctor
faked the lab results
2
: counterfeit, simulate, concoct
faked a heart attack
3
: to deceive (an opponent) in a sports contest by means of a fake (see fake entry 2 sense c)
4
: improvise, ad-lib
whistle a few bars … and I'll fake the rest
—Robert Sylvester
intransitive verb

1
: to engage in faking something : pretend —sometimes used with it
if you don't have the answers, fake it
2
: to give a fake to an opponent
The runner faked left and then cut to the right.
faker noun
fakery
;f;-k(;-)r;
 noun
fake

4 of 5
noun (2)
: one loop of a coil (as of ship's rope or a fire hose) coiled free for running
fake

5 of 5
verb (2)
faked; faking
transitive verb

: to coil in fakes

Synonyms
Adjective

artificial
bogus
dummy
ersatz
factitious
false
faux
imitation
imitative
man-made
mimic
mock
pretend
sham
simulated
substitute
synthetic
Noun (1)

counterfeit
forgery
hoax
humbug
phony
phoney
sham
Verb (1)

counterfeit
forge
phony
Choose the Right Synonym for fake

imposture, fraud, sham, fake, humbug, counterfeit mean a thing made to seem other than it is.

imposture applies to any situation in which a spurious object or performance is passed off as genuine.

their claim of environmental concern is an imposture
fraud usually implies a deliberate perversion of the truth.

the diary was exposed as a fraud
sham applies to fraudulent imitation of a real thing or action.

condemned the election as a sham
fake implies an imitation of or substitution for the genuine but does not necessarily imply dishonesty.

these jewels are fakes; the real ones are in the vault
humbug suggests elaborate pretense usually so flagrant as to be transparent.

creating publicity by foisting humbugs on a gullible public
counterfeit applies especially to the close imitation of something valuable.

20-dollar bills that were counterfeits
Examples of fake in a Sentence
Adjective
That blood is clearly fake.
He was wearing a fake mustache.
Noun (1)
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Adjective
In the past two weeks, I’ve been drenched by a water balloon while stepping out of the shower, found fake spiders in my coffee cup and opened our front door to discover what appeared to be a life-size effigy of the two little girls from The Shining staring at me.
—Remy Blumenfeld, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Oct. 2024
Catfishing – often used on social media - is when a person uses false information and images to create a fake identity online with the intention of tricking, harassing, or scamming another person.
—Abel Alvarado, CNN, 26 Oct. 2024
Noun
But as incredible as these advancements are, the use of deep fakes to manipulate the public is absolutely unacceptable.
—Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register, 4 Oct. 2024
Researchers put the audio through various AI-detecting software to conclude the song is a fake.
—Sophie Hanson, StyleCaster, 30 Sep. 2024
Verb
On a second-and-6 from the 34, Willis faked a handoff and rolled right.
—Rob Reischel, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
At the story’s climax, Else fakes madness in the hotel’s music room and undresses before a crowd of guests, among them von Dorsday.
—Tomas Weber, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024

Word History
Etymology
Adjective

derivative of fake entry 2

Note: Not recorded as an adjective before 1879. The supposed use by the British general Richard Howe in a dispatch from Boston to the Secretary of State dated December 3, 1775 ("So many artifices have been practiced upon Strangers under the appearance of Friendship, fake Pilots &c."; Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1904, Ottawa, 1905, p. 355) is most likely a misreading (perhaps for faux or false?).

Noun (1)

derivative of fake entry 3

Verb (1)

originally underworld argot, of uncertain origin

Note: The verb fake perhaps first appears in print, in the form faik, in 1810. In James Hardy Vaux's "A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language" (vol. 2 of Hardy's Memoirs, London, 1819), it receives a very general definition: "a word so variously used, that I can only illustrate it by a few examples. To fake any person or place, may signify to rob them; to fake a person, may also imply to shoot, wound, or cut; to fake a man out and out, is to kill him; a man who inflicts wounds upon, or otherwise disfigures, himself, for any sinister purpose, is said to have faked himself … to fake a screeve, is to write a letter, or other paper; to fake a screw, is to shape out a skeleton or false key, for the purpose of screwing a particular place; to fake a cly, is to pick a pocket; etc., etc., etc." (p. 170). However, Hardy also records bit-faking "coining base money" and both Vaux and the earlier Lexicon Balatronicum (London, 1811, a revision of Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785) record fakement in the sense "forgery." so the sense "to simulate, counterfeit" was perhaps part of its original meaning. Much earlier is the agent noun faker, defined as "maker" in a list of "Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams." in Randle Holme's The Academy of Armory (Chester, 1688) (a book about heraldry that includes a miscellany of information having nothing to do with heraldry). Along with faker Holme lists Ben-Fakers, "Counterfeiters of Passes and Seals" (ben is defined as "good"). This expression occurs earlier as ben-feaker in Thomas Dekker's pamphlet on cant, O per se O. Or A new cryer of Lanthorne and candle-light (London, 1612): "Of Ben-feakers of Jybes …They who are Counterfeiters of Passeports, are called Ben-feakers , that is to say, Good-Makers." (It is possible that Holme simply copied his entries from Dekker.) The noun feaker/faker implies a corresponding verb feak/fake "make," for which there appears to be no certain evidence. There is feague, fegue "to beat, whip" (earliest in the compound bumfeage) and "to wear out, bring about the ruin of," which are colloquial—the second sense is only attested in Restoration drama—but not argot, and which have a voiced velar consonant (aside from a single occurrence of a participle feakt). A suggestion dating back to Nathan Bailey's An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (4th edition, 1728) is that this word is borrowed from Dutch vegen "to sweep"; compare also German fegen "to wipe, clean, sweep." For further discussion see Anatoly Liberman, "A fake etymology of the word fake," OUPblog, August 23, 2017.

Noun (2)

probably derivative of fake entry 5

Verb (2)

Middle English faken, of obscure origin

First Known Use
Adjective

1879, in the meaning defined above

Noun (1)

1829, in the meaning defined above

Verb (1)

1819, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

1627, in the meaning defined above

Verb (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fake was in the 15th century
See more words from the same century
Phrases Containing fake
fake it
fake out
pump fake
up-fake

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Popular in
Insults
10 Polite Words for Impolite People

9 Words for Impostors
Fakes, fraudsters, charlatans and more
words for impostors

Impostor
Definition - one that assumes false identity or title for the purpose of deception

This word has been spelled in a wide variety of ways over the centuries, although the two most common forms today are impostor and imposter. Take note, however, that imposture generally refers not to a person, but is a different noun, defined either as “the act or practice of deceiving by means of an assumed character or name” or “an instance of imposture.”

What a fast is this, that an impostore or deceyuable person, I cannot tel who, should abstayne from meates, whiche the Lorde hathe created, & yet ware fatte with the fatnes of synnes?
— Thomas Becon, A Potacion or drinkynge for this holi time of lent very cofortable for all penitent synners, 1542


words for imposters charlatan

Charlatan
Definition - one making usually showy pretenses to knowledge or ability

In addition to the definition above, a charlatan is synonymous with quack (“an ignorant, misinformed, or dishonest practitioner of medicine”). The quack sense is the earlier of the two, coming, in roundabout fashion, from the name of an Italian village, Cerreto, which was said to be rife with medical practitioners of questionable worth.

In your eares they say unto you Patience, you shall shortly see this matter hatched. Oh what Charlatans and bringers of rats on sleepe?
— Edward Aggas, The Discouerer of France to the Parisians, 1590


words for impostors fake

Fake
Definition - impostor, charlatan

A word of somewhat uncertain etymology, and occupying many parts of speech and meanings, fake has been quite busy since it entered the English language slightly over 200 years ago. It functions as a noun, verb (transitive and intransitive), and adjective, and each of these contain numerous possible meanings. Most of these meanings are concerned with deception, illegitimacy, or fraud of one sort or another. There are other, more honest fakes in English, including a noun meaning “one loop of a coil (as of ship's rope or a fire hose) coiled free for running,” and a verb which relates to the coiling of the above.

When he was doing some of his mind-reading tests, people in the audience shouted, “He’s a fake.”
— Denver Post, 24 Dec. 1911


words for imposters fraudster

Fraudster
Definition - a person who engages in fraud

Although more common in British use, and long thought to have originated in that variety of English, fraudster in fact has its roots in 19th century American English. The latter portion of this word, the noun combining form -ster, has been used in English to indicate a person who operates, makes, or participates in something (songster, teamster, gangster, etc.) for a very long time. -ster comes from Old English, where -estre indicated the female agent; in current English it is used regardless of gender.

If he goes in, he goes in as the head of a new, able, and honorable dynasty from which the loose official rabble, the scalawag politicians, the carpet-bag fraudsters and the election cheats will be driven as the wind drives the dust in its fury.
— The Owensboro Examiner (Owensboro, KY), 5 Jan. 1877

words for impostors bunyip

Bunyip
Definition - impostor, phony

Bunyip comes to us from Australia, where the word originally had the meaning “a legendary wild animal usually described as a monstrous swamp-dwelling man-eater.” Bunyip comes from an Aboriginal language, and began appearing in print in the 1840s. The “impostor” meaning came shortly thereafter, appearing the following decade.

…and they one and all recognised the bone and picture as belonging to the “Bunyip,” repeating the name without variation.
— Geelong Advertiser and Squatters’ Advocate (Victoria, Aus.), 2 Jul. 1845

words for impostors pretender

Pretender
Definition - one who lays claim to something; specifically, a claimant to a throne who is held to have no just title

Pretender need not be as specific as the definition above; the word may refer broadly to one who pretends in any one of a number of ways. However, it has also carried this narrow meaning regarding one who seeks a throne without the traditional trappings of legitimacy since the middle of the 16th century. The word comes from the Latin praetendere, meaning “to allege as an excuse” (literally, “to stretch out”).

…Robert Lyslye, a mortall enemy to our cause and pretender to the Earldom of Rothes.
— Thomas Randolph, letter to William Cecil, 23 Sept. 1560


words for impostors mumper

Mumper
Definition - a begging impostor

Mumper is a dialectal word most commonly found in England, coming from an old dialectal sense of the word mump, meaning “to beg, or sponge.” There is a second mumper, meaning “one that sulks,” coming from another old sense of mump, this one meaning “sullenness, silent displeasure.”

Mumpers and Cadators will now set forth to go their several Circuits.
— Poor Robin, Poor Robin’s Prophecy, 1671


words for imposters humbug

Humbug
Definition - a willfully false, deceptive, or insincere person

Many readers likely first came across humbug in Norman Juster’s beloved 1961 book, The Phantom Tollbooth (which features a character who is a literal and figurative humbug). Humbug existed well before Juster’s novel, dating in use to the middle of the 18th century (it began appearing as a verb and a noun more or less simultaneously). We cannot tell you the origins of the word, as they are shrouded in mystery, but as a consolation we can inform you that should you have need of referring to humbug in a collective manner you can use humbuggery.

The absentees of Ireland, indulging a predilection for foreign manufactures begat poverty; poverty joining with distress begat clamour and discontent, from whom sprung exertion and expedient; who begat a beautiful daughter called Non-importation, the pride and hopes of our native country; but in an evil hour this maiden was debauched by a designing villain called Humbug, son of Fraud and Plausibility.
— The Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia, PA), 1 Aug. 1785


words for impostors faiture

Faitour
Definition - cheat, impostor

Perhaps you’d like to call someone an impostor, but want a word that will impart a soup;on of class, or maybe you just want to sound like a pretentious swot. In either event, faitour is just the thing you’re looking for. The word (which rhymes with later), is now quite obsolete, so most people won’t know what you’re talking about. Faitour comes from Middle English, which borrowed it from Anglo-French, in which language it meant a variety of things, such as “maker," “creator,” “agent,” “idler,” and “waster.”

Yet all for nought: another took the gain:
Faitour, that reapt the pleasure of another’s pain.
— Phineas Fletcher, Piscatory Eclogues, 1771