The most popular online dictionary and thesaurus for learners of English
put on an act
informalDefinition
› to behave or speak in a false or artificial way: He's just putting on an act for the boss's benefit.Faking and pretending
(Definition of put on an act from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Faking & pretending, but you might be interested in these topics from the Honesty and dishonesty topic area:
- Affected & insincere
- Blunt and direct in speech & behaviour
- Cheating & tricking
- Dishonest
- Dishonest people
- Disloyalty, betrayal & treason
- Honesty, openness & sincerity
- Lies, lying & hypocrisy
- Loyal, faithful & dependable
- Naive & trusting
- Plotting & trapping
- Praising insincerely or too eagerly
- Sly & devious
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus: Faking & pretending
Synonyms and related words:
- a wolf in sheep's clothing idiom
- affect verb (PRETEND)
- assume verb (PRETEND TO HAVE)
- believe verb
- changeling noun
- charlatan noun
- fake verb (FEELING/ILLNESS)
- fake verb (OBJECT)
- false adjective (NOT TRUE)
- false modesty noun
- falsify verb
- masquerade as sb/sth phrasal verb
- masquerade noun
- massage verb (FACTS/NUMBERS)
- pass sth/sb off as sth/sb phrasal verb
- phoney adjective
- purport verb
- put sth on phrasal verb (PRETEND)
- quackery noun
- simulate verb
Our dictionaries
Word of the Day
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
