Meaning & use
dissimulation
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Meanings
noununcountableformal
The hiding of your real feelings, thoughts or plans behind a false appearance.
Grammar: Uncountable: a life of dissimulation; no plural in this sense.
Patterns
- a mask of dissimulation
- practice dissimulation
Years of political dissimulation had taught him to smile at men he despised.
Her cheerful manner was pure dissimulation; she was furious inside.
The play shows a court full of flattery and dissimulation.
nouncountableliterary
A particular act or example of pretending, used to hide the truth.
Grammar: Countable when it refers to a particular act: a clever dissimulation.
Patterns
- a dissimulation of something
The detective saw through the suspect's calm dissimulation.
Her little dissimulations about money slowly wrecked their trust.
He thought a short dissimulation was necessary to protect his friend.
Word forms
| plural | dissimulations |
|---|
Common combinations
- art of dissimulation
- Diplomats are sometimes said to master the art of dissimulation.
- habit of dissimulation
- Years of spying had given him a habit of dissimulation.
- mask of dissimulation
- She wore a mask of dissimulation at the family dinner.
- practice dissimulation
- Courtiers had to practice dissimulation to survive.
- deceit and dissimulation
- The memoir describes a world of deceit and dissimulation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pretense
- Pretense is the usual word for acting as if something is true, while dissimulation focuses on hiding what is really there.
- hypocrisy
- Hypocrisy means claiming moral standards you do not follow, which is narrower than dissimulation.
- concealment
- Concealment is simply hiding something, with no need for a false front, unlike dissimulation.
- duplicity
- Duplicity is deliberate double-dealing and suggests betrayal, a stronger accusation than dissimulation.
Opposites
Word family
- dissimulate verb
- to hide your true feelings or plans by pretending
- dissimulator noun
- a person who hides the truth by pretending
- simulate verb
- to imitate something or pretend, from the same root
- dissembler noun
- someone who hides their real intentions
Commonly confused: dissimulation or simulation? dissimulation or dissemination?
dissimulation vs simulation
Simulation is an imitation of a real process, like a flight simulation. Dissimulation is concealing your real feelings.
dissimulation vs dissemination
Dissemination means spreading information widely, which is the opposite of hiding it.
Practice
Behind the minister's friendly smile lay years of ____, hiding what he truly thought of his rivals.
Choose one answer.
Dissimulation means concealing your real feelings behind a false appearance. Simulation looks similar, but it means imitation, as in a computer model.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dissimulation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.