assume

assume 1 Assume, affect, pretend, simulate, feign, counterfeit, sham mean to put on a false or deceptive appearance.

Assume often implies a pardonable motive rather than an intent to deceive

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it sometimes happens that by assuming an air of cheerfulness we become cheerful in reality— Cowper

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To affect is to make a show of possessing or using something, usually for effect, but sometimes because of one’s liking for it

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affect plainness of speech

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affect a gesture, an opinion, a phrase, because it is the rage with a large number of persons— Hazlitt

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Jones had really that taste for humor which others affect— Fielding

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Pretend implies overt profession of what is false

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that pretended liking called politeness—L. P. Smith

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pretend to be insane

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even their clowns had to be learned or to pretend learning— Highet

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To simulate is to assume the characteristics of something else by imitating its appearance or outward signs

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trees hewn to simulate formidable artillery pieces were dragged into position all along the ramparts— Amer. Guide Series: La.

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Feign implies more invention than pretend, less specific imitation of life than simulate

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I grow angry and I curse them, and they feign penitence, but behind my back I know they call me a toothless old ape— Kipling

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But feign and simulate are often interchangeable.

Counterfeit implies the highest degree of verisimilitude of any of the words in this group

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are you not mad indeed? or do you but counterfeit?— Shak.

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many noblemen gave the actor-manager access to their collections of armor and weapons in order that his accouterment should exactly counterfeit that of a Norman baron— Shaw

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Sham implies feigning with an intent to deceive; it usually connotes deception so obvious that it fools only the gullible

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sham sickness

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sham sleeping

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when the curtain falls there are more actors shamming dead upon the stage than actors upright— H. A. L. Craig

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Analogous words: dissemble, *disguise, cloak, mask, camouflage

2 *presuppose, postulate, presume, premise, posit

Analogous words: *conjecture, surmise: *grant, concede, allow: *assert, affirm, aver, predicate, profess