Synonyms and antonyms of To pretend something is not happening or is not the case in American Thesaurus

kick something into the long grass ()

to react to a difficult problem by doing something to make sure that people will forget about it rather than trying to solve it

sweep aside ()

to ignore someone or something, or to refuse to consider them

gloss over ()

to ignore or avoid unpleasant facts

wink at ()

to pretend that you have not noticed something or do not know about it, because you do not approve of it

ignore (verb)

to pretend that you have not noticed someone or something

connive (verb)

to ignore behavior or an activity that is wrong, or to do nothing to stop it, so that you seem to approve of it

pass over ()

to ignore or not mention a statement or subject

turn a blind eye (to something) ()

to pretend you do not notice something, because you should do something about it but you do not want to

look the other way ()

to deliberately ignore something bad that is happening

overlook (verb)

to choose to ignore a mistake, fault, etc.

bunker mentality (noun)

mainly journalism the frightened feeling that you have when you think people are threatening or attacking you, which makes you want to avoid dealing with them

bury your head in the sand ()

to ignore a problem or an unpleasant situation and hope that it will disappear

camouflage (verb)

to hide the truth

charade (noun)

an attempt to pretend that a situation is good or satisfactory, when in fact it is not

close your eyes to something ()

to ignore something bad that is happening when you should be doing something to stop it

cover up ()

to hide the truth about something by not telling what you know or by preventing other people from telling what they know

cover your tracks ()

to try to hide evidence of something bad that you have done

denialist (noun)

showing disapproval someone who deliberately chooses to deny the truth about something because it is too uncomfortable or difficult to accept

draw a veil over something ()

to avoid talking about something because it is embarrassing or unpleasant

let something go ()

to not react to something that someone says, especially something annoying

let something pass ()

to not react to something that someone says, especially something annoying

let something ride ()

to not react to something that someone says, especially something annoying

ostrich (noun)

informal someone who pretends that an unpleasant situation or problem does not exist

paper over ()

to try to hide a problem or disagreement instead of finding a satisfactory solution to it

paper over the cracks ()

to try to hide a problem or disagreement instead of finding a satisfactory solution to it

play/act dumb ()

to pretend to not know or not understand something

play possum ()

to pretend not to be involved in something in order to protect yourself

shut your eyes to something ()

to refuse to pay attention to something, usually something bad

throw/put someone off the scent ()

to do something to try to prevent someone from discovering the truth

whistling in the dark ()

pretending to feel confident about a situation when in fact you feel nervous or worried