"pretends" in the noun sense
1. make-believe, pretend
the enactment of a pretense
"it was just pretend"
"pretends" in the verb sense
1. feign, sham, pretend, affect, dissemble
make believe with the intent to deceive
"He feigned that he was ill"
"He shammed a headache"
2. dissemble, pretend, act
behave unnaturally or affectedly
"She's just acting"
3. pretend
put forward a claim and assert right or possession of
"pretend the title of King"
4. guess, venture, pretend, hazard
put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
"I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again"
"I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong"
5. make, pretend, make believe
represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like
"She makes like an actress"
6. profess, pretend
state insincerely
"He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"
"She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"
"She pretends to be an expert on wine"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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