dissemble

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“
I will utter, and dissemble --

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance. See Synonyms at disguise.
  2. transitive verb To make a false show of; feign.
  3. intransitive verb To disguise or conceal one's real nature, motives, or feelings behind a false appearance.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • There is a time to dissemble, and a time to tell the truth. —  Carey, Jaqueline - Kushiel's Dart orig
  • I'll dissemble, and try him. —  The Comedies of William Congreve Volume 1 [of 2]
  • He would have to dissemble, and he rejoined his party with what he intended for a jaunty air We've been waiting for you to go away," said Bella. —  The Tinted Venus A Farcical Romance
  • If it was a dirty interior we were to dissemble, and ask the way; if it was clean, we were to say, `Oh, if you please, we are stranded motorists, and do you supply plain teas?' —  The Love Affairs of Pixie
  • He was fully as anxious as they, but he knew how to dissemble, and would not have confessed his real emotions for the world After all, it was Jeff Graham who deserved the credit for the willingness of the parents to see their sons venture upon the long and dangerous journey. —  Klondike Nuggets and How Two Boys Secured Them
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

dissemble:   dissembling
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English dissemblen, from Old French dessembler, to be different : des-, dis- + sembler, to appear, seem; see semblable.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French dessembler, dessambler, French dissembler, be unlike (cf. Old French dessembler, dessambler, dessenbler, dessanbler, separate, disjoin, divide—opposed to assembler, assemble: see assemble), = Provencal Catalan dessembler = Spanish desemejar, be unlike, dissemble = Portuguese des- semelhar, dessimilhar, make unlike, = Italian dissimigliare, be unlike, differ; these forms (partly from Middle Latin dissimilare, *dissimiliare, be or make unlike: see dissimilate) being partly mingled with Old French dissimuler, French dissimuler = Spanish disimular = Portuguese dissimular = Italian dissimulare, from Latin dissimulare, feign to be different, dissimulate, dissemble, from dissimilis, unlike, from dis- privative + similis, like: see similar, dissimilar, and cf. assemble, assimulate, assimilate, dissimule, dissimulate, dissimilate, resemble, semble, etc.
 

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/dɪˈsɛmbl/
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