Imaginative intellectual play.
synonyms: pretence, pretense.
Roget 545:
deception;
falseness
etc.
544;
untruth
etc.
546;
imposition,
imposture;
fraud,
deceit,
guile;
fraudulence,
fraudulency†;
covin†;
knavery
etc.
(cunning)
702;
misrepresentation
etc.
(falsehood)
544;
bluff;
straw-bail,
straw bid [U.S.];
spoof [Slang].
delusion,
gullery†;
juggling,
jugglery†;
slight of hand,
legerdemain;
prestigiation†,
prestidigitation;
magic
etc.
992;
conjuring,
conjuration;
hocus-pocus,
escamoterie†,
jockeyship†;
trickery,
coggery†,
chicanery;
supercherie†,
cozenage†,
circumvention,
ingannation†,
collusion;
treachery
etc.
940;
practical joke.
trick,
cheat,
wile,
blind,
feint,
plant,
bubble,
fetch,
catch,
chicane,
juggle,
reach,
hocus,
bite;
card sharping,
stacked deck,
loaded dice,
quick shuffle,
double dealing,
dealing seconds,
dealing from the bottom of the deck;
artful dodge,
swindle;
tricks upon travelers;
stratagem
etc.
(artifice)
702;
confidence trick,
fake,
hoax;
theft
etc.
791;
ballot-box stuffing [U.S.],
barney [Slang];
brace game [Slang],
bunko game,
drop game [Slang],
gum game [U.S.],
panel game [U.S.],
shell game,
thimblerig,
skin game [U.S.].
snare,
trap,
pitfall,
decoy,
gin;
springe†,
springle†;
noose,
hoot;
bait,
decoy-duck,
tub to the whale,
baited trap,
guet-a-pens;
cobweb,
net,
meshes,
toils,
mouse trap,
birdlime;
dionaea†,
Venus's flytrap†;
ambush
etc.
530;
trapdoor,
sliding panel,
false bottom;
spring-net,
spring net,
spring gun,
mask,
masked battery;
mine;
flytrap†;
green goods [U.S.];
panel house.
Cornish hug;
wolf in sheep's clothing
etc.
(deceiver)
548;
disguise,
disguisement†;
false colors,
masquerade,
mummery,
borrowed plumes;
pattes de velours [Fr.].
mockery
etc.
(imitation)
19;
copy
etc.
21;
counterfeit,
sham,
make-believe,
forgery,
fraud;
lie
etc.
546;
a delusion a mockery and a snare"
[Denman],
hollow mockery.
whited sepulcher,
painted sepulcher;
tinsel;
paste,
junk jewelry,
costume jewelry,
false jewelry,
synthetic jewels;
scagliola†,
ormolu,
German silver,
albata†,
paktong†,
white metal,
Britannia metal,
paint;
veneer;
jerry building;
man of straw.
illusion
etc.
(error)
495;
ignis fatuus [Lat.]
etc.
423;
mirage
etc.
443.
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Roget 546:
untruth,
falsehood,
lie,
story,
thing that is not,
fib,
bounce,
crammer,
taradiddle†,
whopper;
jhuth†.
forgery,
fabrication,
invention;
misstatement,
misrepresentation;
perversion,
falsification,
gloss,
suggestio falsi [Lat.];
exaggeration
etc.
549.
invention,
fabrication,
fiction;
fable,
nursery tale;
romance
etc.
(imagination)
515;
absurd story,
untrue story,
false story,
trumped up story,
trumped up statement;
thing devised by the enemy;
canard;
shave,
sell,
hum,
traveler's tale,
Canterbury tale,
cock and bull story,
fairy tale,
fake;
claptrap.
press agent's yarn;
puff,
puffery
(exaggeration)
549.
myth,
moonshine,
bosh,
all my eye and Betty Martin,
mare's nest,
farce.
irony;
half truth,
white lie,
pious fraud;
mental reservation
etc.
(concealment)
528.
pretense,
pretext;
false plea
etc.
617;
subterfuge,
evasion,
shift,
shuffle,
make-believe;
sham
etc.
(deception)
545.
profession,
empty words;
Judas kiss
etc.
(hypocrisy)
544;
disguise
etc.
(mask)
530.
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Imagined as in a play:
— The make-believe world of theater.
synonym: pretend.
Roget 545:
deceived
etc.
v.;
deceiving
&c.;
cunning
etc.
702;
prestigious†,
prestigiatory†;
deceptive,
deceptious†;
deceitful,
covinous†;
delusive,
delusory;
illusive,
illusory;
elusive,
insidious,
ad captandum vulgus [Lat.].
untrue
etc.
546;
mock,
sham,
make-believe,
counterfeit,
snide [Slang],
pseudo,
spurious,
supposititious,
so-called,
pretended,
feigned,
trumped up,
bogus,
scamped,
fraudulent,
tricky,
factitious bastard;
surreptitious,
illegitimate,
contraband,
adulterated,
sophisticated;
unsound,
rotten at the core;
colorable;
disguised;
meretricious,
tinsel,
pinchbeck,
plated;
catchpenny;
Brummagem.
artificial,
synthetic,
ersatz [G.];
simulated
etc.
544.
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