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stranger
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stranger
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I searched the forums unsuccessfully to see if this topic had been covered, so apologies if my inaugural post is a duplication. Some friends and I were discussing recently if there is a specific word for the act of feigning ignorance (or playing dumb). We couldn't come up with one.
Thanks for any assistance.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome aBoard, DD. I ran your description through Onelook's reverse dictionary, and came up with nothing that seemed appropriate. My thought is, then, that it's likely some variation on the words sly or tricky will have to suffice.
Main Entry: sly
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: clever, devious
Synonyms: arch, artful, astute, bluffing, cagey, calculating, canny, captious, conniving, covert, crafty, crooked, cunning, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, designing, dishonest, dishonorable, dissembling, double-dealing, elusive, foxy, furtive, guileful, illusory, impish, ingenious, insidious, intriguing, mean, mischievous, plotting, roguish, scheming, secret, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, smart, smooth, sneaking, stealthy, subtle, traitorous, treacherous, tricky, underhand, unscrupulous, wily thesaurus.com
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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There would be many exemples of feigning something for which there is not one specific word. I guess there are too many subjects to be sly or tricky on to form specific words. Maybe other languages have it.
feigning ignorance- feigning having knowledge
feigning sympathy - feigning feeling hatred
feigning poverty - feigning whealth
feigning weakness - feigning strenght
feigning indifference - feigning attention
Last edited by BranShea; 07/23/10 06:59 AM.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Of course having a quality is not the same thing as pretending that you don't have the quality.
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Joined: Jun 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 |
Sometimes one might be credited with more intelligence than one actually has. What could appear as feigning ignorance might be the real thing.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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Uh?? Puzzle (Fal) and puzzle (Avy).  Unfeigned surprize.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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What could appear as feigning ignorance might be the real thing. 
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addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 655 |
"Disingenuous" is a pretty exact fit for "feigning ignorance."
"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Disingenuous" is a pretty exact fit for "feigning ignorance."
can't agree with this.
here's a usage note from AHD4:
The meaning of disingenuous has been shifting about lately, as if people are unsure of its proper meaning. Generally, it means "insincere" and often seems to be a synonym of cynical or calculating. Not surprisingly, the word is used often in political contexts, as in It is both insensitive and disingenuous for the White House to describe its aid package and the proposal to eliminate the federal payment as "tough love." This use of the word is accepted by 94 percent of the Usage Panel. Most Panelists also accept the extended meaning relating to less reproachable behavior. Fully 88 percent accept disingenuous with the meaning "playfully insincere, faux-naïf," as in the example "I don't have a clue about late Beethoven!" he said. The remark seemed disingenuous, coming from one of the world's foremost concert pianists. Sometimes disingenuous is used as a synonym for naive, as if the dis- prefix functioned as an intensive (as it does in certain words like disannul) rather than as a negative element. This usage does not find much admiration among Panelists, however. Seventy-five percent do not accept it in the phrase a disingenuous tourist who falls prey to stereotypical con artists.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Isn't "faux-naif" French for feigned ignorance?
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