Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DISSIMULATE

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce DISSIMULATE: Say it "diss SIM you late." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: Dissimulate? Didn't we do that one already? Nope, but we did check out a very close synonym: diss___le, meaning "to lie, usually because you're hiding your true thoughts or intentions." Can you recall that one? It has three syllables, while dissimulate has four. Both trace back to the Latin simulare, "to make alike." If you care to follow me down a bizarre hallway of etymology--and I totally understand if you don't--that word diss___le literally means "to make completely alike," while today's word dissimulate literally means "to make not alike," and yet the two still mean the same thing in contemporary usage. Weird, right? Blame that wily prefix "dis-," which sometimes means "not" and other times means "completely." And, blame that devil-may-care leap that we often make from Latin roots to actual English meanings. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: "Dissimulate" has Latin roots that mean "to make not the same."  To dissimulate is to act dishonestly by hiding things or disguising things. And, to dissimulate something is to hide it or disguise it. Notice that when you dissimulate something, that means you're concealing it, or covering it up. It doesn't mean that you're faking it or pretending that it's real. If someone is dissimulating her ignorance, that means she really does have ignorance and she's hiding it, covering it up, or passing it off as something else, like a lack of interest: "Dissimulating her ignorance, she declared the subject boring and quickly changed it." It doesn't mean she's pretending to be ignorant. If someone is pretending to have some quality, you can say they're simulating it (but not dissimulating it): "Simulating ignorance, she asked me how to play Scrabble, then creamed me, 350 to 120." grammatical bits: Part of speech: It's a verb. Often it's the transitive kind: "he dissimulated his pain," "they're dissimulating their ignorance." It can also be the intransitive kind: "she was dissimulating again," "you can't get away with dissimulating in this age of fact-checking." Other forms: dissimulated, dissimulating, dissimulation, dissimulative, dissimulator(s). how to use it: This word is formal and serious. It's not rare, but you don't spot it every single day, either; so, it's good for emphasis. That is, it helps you call attention, with some freshness and sophistication, to the fact that someone has something to hide. To use the intransitive verb, just talk about people dissimulating: "that politician dissimulates in every speech;" "that company dissimulates in every advertisement." And to use the transitive verb, talk about people dissimulating things--that is, hiding them, or disguising them--such as facts, realities, problems, weaknesses, inabilities, feelings, biases, expectations, and so on. As you guys know, I never recommend picking a sophisticated word in order to obscure or obfuscate--that is, to confuse people, or to hide the truth while, weasel-like, claiming accuracy in your word choice. So, the worst way to use the word "dissimulate" would be to pick it instead of the word "lie" in an attempt to hide, diminish, or gloss over someone's dishonesty. In other words, we shouldn't use "dissimulate" to dissimulate. But some people do. examples: "Aspirants to public office in the US may well dissimulate, but in a wide-open cultural landscape, with only the occasional ironic outcropping, there's hardly anywhere for them to hide."    — Will Self, BBC, 4 January 2013 "Perhaps this old Brockway was protecting himself from something.... Maybe he was dissimulating, like some of the teachers at the college, who, to avoid trouble when driving through the small surrounding towns, wore chauffeur caps and pretended that their cars belonged to white men. But why was he pretending with me?"    — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, 1952 "'You know, I am twenty-one now." 'Is it possible?' 'Very possible! in four years from now I shall be quite an old maid!' The count looked at Bijou with an admiration which he did not attempt to dissimulate, as he answered emphatically: 'You an old maid? oh, never in the world, never!'"    — Gyp (Sibylle Riqueti de Mirabeau), Bijou, 1897 has this page helped you understand "dissimulate"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "dissimulate" without saying "deceive" or "conceal." try it out: In Magic by Misdirection, the magician Daniel Fitzkee draws an important distinction: "Simulation...shows a false picture. Dissimulation...hides a true picture. Simulation is a pretense of what is not, and dissimulation a concealment of what is." In other words, to simulate is to fake like you got it; to dissimulate is to fake like you don't got it. "Both of the stratagems are forms of disguise," Fitzkee says. That is, whether you're doing stage magic or anything else in life, simulation (making things up) and dissimulation (playing things down) are two opposite ways of doing the same thing: deceiving people. Talk about a person who does both. It might be someone famous, someone fictional, or someone you know in real life. What does this person simulate (pretend is there)? And what does this person dissimulate (pretend isn't there)? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Subject Line Crosswords." We'll revisit some of the email subject lines from 2019 issues, using them as a tool for recall. Each day this month, see if you can complete the mini-crossword with words we studied last year. If you need extra clues, look below the puzzle to view definitions and parts of speech. And I'll share the answers in the following issue. Enjoy! From the previous issue: Extra clues: ACROSS 2. adjective meaning "sloppy and careless in a way that reminds you of someone shuffling around awkwardly in loose shoes" 3. adjective meaning "seeming okay (or even good) to the person who's experiencing it" DOWN 1. verb meaning "to stir things up, making them chaotic, confusing, and full of strong emotions" Answers: If you like, you can review the words slipshod, palatable, and roil. Try this today:  Extra clues: ACROSS 2. noun meaning "a group of loyal, unthinking followers who are eager to praise and support their leader" 3. adjective meaning "full and swarming, or very productive" DOWN 1. adjective meaning "sloppy, dirty, untidy, or unclean" review this word: 1. A near opposite of DISSIMULATING is A. INNOCUOUS (harmless). B. IDYLLIC (happy and peaceful). C. INGENUOUS (open and honest). 2. Taqiya, according to Wikipedia, is a type of practical dissimulation: a _____. A. science that applies accumulated knowledge to everyday life B. denial of one's religious beliefs as a means of dodging persecution C. distilled beverage served with salt and lime, and a straight path to tipsiness 1. C 2. B a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.