Etymology

dissimulate

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Today it means: To practise deception by concealment or omission, or by feigning a false appearance; to dissemble. Full definition →

Middle English dissimulaten, dissimilaten ← Latin dissimulātus
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dissimulate · verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromdissimulātus
  2. Middle English · inherited fromdissimulaten, dissimilaten
  3. English todaydissimulate

Inherited from Middle English dissimulaten, dissimilaten, from Latin dissimulātus + -en (“verb-forming suffix”), perfect passive participle of dissimulō (“to conceal, to pretend, to neglect”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dissimilis (“unlike”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Compare the obsolete dissimule (“to conceal, disguise”), from Old French dissimuler (French dissimuler), ultimately from the same Latin root. Doublet of dissemble, dissimilate, and dissimule.

dissimulate · adjective2

  1. Middle English · inherited fromdissimulat(e), dissimilat(e)
  2. English todaydissimulate

Inherited from Middle English dissimulat(e), dissimilat(e) (attested in Robert Henryson with an active sense, see the citation page), from dissimulātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.