pretend

This is not a 30-minute dinner, and there is no reason to pretend otherwise.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

In the ballet rehearsal, they warm up, they finesse, they practice and pretend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Consumers will benefit from an end to so-called subscription traps and a crackdown on "pretend prices", Andy Burnham has said.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Or an acknowledgment that not all cats are as cool as they pretend to be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

She stroked my hair and, for a tiny moment, I wondered if I could allow her to comfort me, let myself pretend she hadn’t said those words.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

What’s disheartening is that she pretends there is no connection, telling Vogue Italia last week, “Algorithms and artificial intelligence are the opposite of taking risks to me, and that is the opposite of making art.”

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

"He is not happy, he pretends he is happy," said Tamim.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

The bot’s final product is exactly that: an essay that pretends to divulge, to confess, to promise, and to portray.

From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026

Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the country's biggest unions, verbally attacked Mullin at a 2023 hearing, calling him a "greedy CEO who pretends like he's self-made".

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

Helmuth crosses to the window, pretends to watch a robin hopping about in the courtyard.

From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Rand pretended to be me and I pretended to be Rand,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Hine often donned disguises or pretended to be inspecting a factory.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

Many pretended it wasn't happening at all, but that's harder to do as the front line creeps closer to the city.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Then she grabbed her Bible, pretended to flip through it and said, “Let me just check. Yes!”

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

“There must be little here to interest you, then,” she said, and pretended to go back to reading about the Spanish Armada.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

“I had basically been cosplaying as an angel in their house for the last three or four months, pretending that I was perfect,” Tiedemann says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

“Then we’re supposed to keep pretending we’re in la-la land and everything’s gonna be great. And I just don’t think that’s realistic.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Tuesday confirmed he had exchanged messages with someone pretending to be US President Donald Trump's chief of staff.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Lord Cameron also exchanged some text messages with the impersonator pretending to be Poroshenko, who was president of Ukraine between 2014 and 2019.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

I ask the photographer, from my perch at Theo’s desk, the one that I am supposed to be pretending is my own desk as I write fictitious letters to the boys on the front.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse