different between incognito vs pretend

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian incognito, from Latin incognitus (“unknown”), from in- (“not”) + cognitus (“known”), perfect passive participle of cognoscere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nk???ni?to?/, IPA^(key): /??n?k??nito?/
• Rhymes: -i?t??

Adjective

incognito (not comparable)

1. Without being known; in an assumed character, or under an assumed title; in disguise.

Usage notes

This term is said especially of great personages who sometimes adopt a disguise or an assumed character in order to avoid notice.

Translations

Adverb

incognito (not comparable)

1. Without revealing one's identity.
   • May 19, 1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (pseudonym for Richard Steele or (in some later numbers of the journal) Joseph Addison), The Tatler No. 17

     The prince royal of Prussia came thither incognito.

Translations

Noun

incognito (countable and uncountable, plural incognitos)

1. One unknown or in disguise, or under an assumed character or name.
2. The assumption of disguise or of a feigned character; the state of being in disguise or not recognized.

Anagrams

• cognition

French

Etymology

From Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.k?.?i.to/

Adjective

incognito

1. incognito

Adverb

incognito (plural incognitos)

1. incognito

Noun

incognito m (plural incognitos)

1. incognito

Further reading

• “incognito” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

incognito (feminine incognita, masculine plural incogniti, feminine plural incognite)

1. unknown
2. (archaic) unaware; ignorant

Derived terms

• incognitamente

Noun

incognito m (plural incogniti)

1. incognito

Related terms

• incognita

Latin

Adjective

incognit?

1. dative masculine singular of incognitus
2. dative neuter singular of incognitus
3. ablative masculine singular of incognitus
4. ablative neuter singular of incognitus

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman pretendre, Middle French pretendre (French prétendre (“to claim, demand”)), from Latin praetendere, present active infinitive of praetend? (“put forward, hold out, pretend”), from prae- (“pre-”) + tend? (“stretch”); see tend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???t?nd/
• Rhymes: -?nd
• Hyphenation: pre?tend

Verb

pretend (third-person singular simple present pretends, present participle pretending, simple past and past participle pretended)

1. To claim, to allege, especially when falsely or as a form of deliberate deception. [from 14th c.]
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, XVIII.23:

     "After what past at Upton, so soon to engage in a new amour with another woman, while I fancied, and you pretended, your heart was bleeding for me!"

   • 2009 April 13, “Vanity publishing”, in The Economist:

     I have nothing but contempt for people who hire ghost-writers. But at least most faux authors have the decency to pretend that they are sweating blood over "their" book.

2. To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.). [from 15th c.]
   • 2007 October 29, The Guardian, London:

     Gap and other clothes manufacturers should stop using small subcontractors because they are difficult to control. Instead, they should open up their own fully-owned production facilities so that they cannot pretend ignorance when abuses are committed.

3. To lay claim to (an ability, status, advantage, etc.). [from 15th c.] (originally used without to)
   • 1682, John Dryden, The Medal

     Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25:

     People observed the diversity of schools and the acerbity of their disputes, and decided that all alike were pretending to knowledge which was in fact unattainable.

4. To make oneself appear to do or be doing something; to engage in make-believe.
   • 2003 January 23, Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, London:

     Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To intend; to design, to plot; to attempt.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To hold before one; to extend.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.11:

     Pastorella […] Was by the Captaine all this while defended, / Who, minding more her safety then himselfe, / His target alwayes over her pretended […].

Usage notes

This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Related terms

• pretender
• pretense
• pretension
• pretentious
• pretentiousness

Translations

Further reading

• pretend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• pretend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Adjective

pretend (not comparable)

1. Not really what it is represented as being; imaginary, feigned.

   As children we used to go on "spying" missions around the neighbour's house, but it was all pretend.

Translations