What's the difference between connive and pretend?

Connive


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink.
  • (v. i.) To close the eyes upon a fault; to wink (at); to fail or forbear by intention to discover an act; to permit a proceeding, as if not aware of it; -- usually followed by at.
  • (v. t.) To shut the eyes to; to overlook; to pretend not to see.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Despite his advocacy on behalf of leftists and nationalists, there were those who believed he connived to ensure that the left faction did not get the upper hand in the PAP.
  • (2) Wealthy individuals and religious foundations in Saudi Arabia , Kuwait, Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf have channelled millions of dollars to the anti-Assad opposition, though it is not clear with what degree of official connivance.
  • (3) So while the Turkish parliament congratulated itself on a long night’s defence of democracy, many wonder why its members connived in the decline of the rule of law.
  • (4) They should never have connived in the absurd policy of allowing housing benefit to soar to pay ever-higher rents for those on benefit or in low-paid jobs and simultaneously permitting council houses to be sold without their replacement.
  • (5) – with the connivance of the Sun, a headline on whose front page reading THE TRUTH is in any circumstances beyond satire.
  • (6) Her summary of the issues underscored several key points, among them the reality that the publishers were as conniving as Apple, but that they perceived Apple's market power too strong to challenge.
  • (7) According to Robert Gates, the former US defence secretary, Washington was so keen to oust the Afghan president that officials connived in delaying an Afghan presidential election in 2009 and then tried to manipulate the outcome in a "clumsy and failed putsch".
  • (8) On Monday the Russian foreign ministry denounced the lawlessness it said “now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called Right Sector, with the full connivance” of Ukraine’s new authorities.
  • (9) Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader whose trial for the Bosnian genocide began last month in The Hague, lived openly for years in Serbian army barracks with the connivance of sympathetic senior officers.
  • (10) It is a story of deceit that has left thousands of British refugees living in misery for the past 40 years, exiled from their island home by a conniving and unrepentant government."
  • (11) Horman had spotted US warships off the Chilean coast at Valparaiso shortly after the coup and had believed this showed signs of American connivance.
  • (12) This process of polarisation and mutual alienation culminated last Friday with Obama’s active connivance in the passing of a landmark UN security council resolution.
  • (13) A lot of people, including the opposition, have connived in giving this a humanitarian gloss.
  • (14) "The mafia that invests, that launders money, that therefore has the real power, is the mafia which has got rich for years from its connivance with the church," said Gratteri.
  • (15) A third actor, the one who plays the conniving lady's maid Sarah O'Brien, has now left the cast too.
  • (16) But abuse and criminal activity on this sort of scale cannot possibly happen without passive connivance from the very top.
  • (17) Meanwhile, in a (seemingly) parallel story, medieval dullard Alaïs must protect the (apparently) same ring from gnashing crusaders and conniving sister Oriane, who is also banging Alaïs's expressionless husband.
  • (18) Israel's new ruler refused to meet Arafat, whom he charged with duplicity and connivance in murder.
  • (19) The newspaper said it had found evidence of widespread theft of ivory “perpetuated by [Uganda Wildlife Authority] staff” who connive with wildlife traffickers.
  • (20) The Liberal Democrats have disowned their former icon, Sir Cyril Smith, amid evidence of appalling and repeated sexual abuse of children, as a new controversy raged over allegations that police, spies and politicians connived in an establishment cover-up of his activities.

Pretend


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
  • (v. t.) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
  • (v. t.) To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
  • (v. t.) To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.
  • (v. t.) To hold before one; to extend.
  • (v. i.) To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to.
  • (v. i.) To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His anti-politics act may just be a shtick – pretending he's still on Have I Got News for You, satirising politics even though he's right at the centre of it – but it liberates him from the usual constraints.
  • (2) "Obviously [writers in translation] have a disadvantage and there's no sense pretending they don't, of being read in translation," said Gekoski.
  • (3) Tony Abbott pretended to support the renewable energy industry before the election but is now “launching a full-frontal attack” according to Labor’s environment spokesman Mark Butler.
  • (4) The Telegraph's secret taping of Cable and fellow Liberal Democrat ministers while pretending to be concerned constituents has raised eyebrows in some media quarters, but the newspaper has claimed a "clear public interest" defence for its actions.
  • (5) It is hard to tell who has really suffered, and who is only pretending.
  • (6) Respecting the frequency of invalidity this cancer pretends the second place among these diseases.
  • (7) When this parliament votes for another referendum as it inevitably will, thanks to the perpetual crutch that the Greens provide, let’s not pretend it reflects the will of the Scottish people, because it doesn’t.
  • (8) Non-doms could no longer pretend to live in Monaco while living in the UK for four working days a week.
  • (9) But equally, you’re ignoring how these people feel if you try and pretend they don’t feel their area is changing.
  • (10) Additionally, the Schmidt-Furlow investigators looked at instances where female interrogators had fondled prisoners, or pretended to splash menstrual blood upon them.
  • (11) Stewart Lee with a mask made of meat, pretending to be Canadian?
  • (12) Yes, there are other reasons why a boy might take a clock out of its casing & pretend he’d made it.
  • (13) It would be idle to pretend that Cameron doesn't have talents as a leader.
  • (14) Their leaders are charging round the country pretending they are going to get an overall majority, but in their heart of hearts they know it is not true, you can see it in their eyes.” The deputy prime minister, whose party has been in coalition with the Conservatives since 2010, said the next question for the public was “that since neither David Cameron or Ed Miliband are going to walk into Downing Street on their own, who is it the voters want at their side”.
  • (15) By pretending to ignore the scientific evidence, AquaBounty is doing readers a disservice.
  • (16) Pro-Europeans don't do themselves any favours by trying to pretend that it didn't happen.
  • (17) Indeed watching the prime minister singling out unemployed youngsters for uniquely punitive measures while pretending it is for their own good, cheered on by a gang of braying chums, it looks less like the behaviour of a national statesman and more like the petty vindictiveness of a schoolyard bully.
  • (18) And he must not pretend to be ignorant of the consequences of continuing to burn coal or take refuge in a "carbon cap" or some "target" for future emission reductions.
  • (19) During the collection of a one-hour spontaneous language sample from each child the experimenter pretended 20 times not to understand and asked, "What?"
  • (20) He would go around the communities and pretend to have a conversation with people but really his eyes were on the children playing," she says.