DISSEMBLE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Dissemble

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/dɪsˈɛmbəl/ Listen

verb

Dissemble v. t. (past & past part. dissembled; pres. part. dissembling)

To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. "Dissemble all your griefs and discontents." "Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, But why did you kick me down stairs?"

To put on the semblance of; to make pretense of; to simulate; to feign. "He soon dissembled a sleep."

Synonyms: To conceal; disguise; cloak; cover; equivocate. See Conceal.

Dissemble v. i. To conceal the real fact, motives, intention, or sentiments, under some pretense; to assume a false appearance; to act the hypocrite. "He that hateth dissembleth with his lips." "He (an enemy) dissembles when he assumes an air of friendship."

See images of 'Dissemble'

Etymology of 'Dissemble'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Dissemble" Quotes from Famous Books

... "Don't dissemble, please. My point is simply this: If every other occupation in the world demands some previous preparation, why shouldn't a girl know something about housekeeping and homemaking before she ...

— Flower of the Dusk • Myrtle Reed

... to her delights. But now, perfidious traitor, I am grown The abject of thy breast, not to be known In that false closet more; nay, thou wilt not So much as let me know I am forgot. If thou wilt say thou didst not love me, then Thou didst dissemble: or if love again, Why now inconstant? Came the crime from me That wrought this change? Sure, if no justice be Of my side, thine must have it. Why dost hide Thy reasons then? For me, I did so guide ...

— Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II • Henry Vaughan

... sons gorge cates and vermicelli, Like beastly Bickerstaffe or bothering Kelly? Or art thou tired of th' undeserved applause Bestowed on bards affecting Virtue's cause? Is this the good that makes the humble vain, The good philosophy should not disdain? If so, let pride dissemble all it can, A modern sage is still much ...

— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving

... say, "Reason and Scripture tell us that it is absurd and wrong to worship images and pray to saints,—tell us that your doctrines are not true. And we will say so in spite of the Pope and all his power,—in spite of torture and a fiery death. We cannot palter; we cannot dissemble; we cannot shelter ourselves under half-truths, and make a covenant with lies. 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to God, judge ye. We cannot but speak the things which we know ...

— All Saints' Day and Other Sermons • Charles Kingsley

... they caught his hopefulness, but neither noticed the lump he swallowed, nor with what difficulty he kept back the tears when the hour for parting came. He was fully as anxious as they, but he knew how to dissemble, and would not have confessed his real emotions for ...

— Klondike Nuggets - and How Two Boys Secured Them • E. S. Ellis

More quotes...