dissemble
dih-SEM-bulverbMeaning to hide one’s true feelings or aims behind a false show
Memory hook a mask that does NOT RESEMBLE you. Maya is sad inside, but she holds up a smiling mask that does not resemble her real face at all; to hide your feelings that way is to dissemble.
Though she was crushed by the news, Maya dissembled and smiled through the whole party.
In context The spy had to dissemble for years, chatting cheerfully with the guards while secretly mapping every hallway of the fortress.
Similar pretend, feign, disguise, mask
Opposite reveal, disclose
From Latin dissimulare, “to hide, to disguise”: dis- (not) + simulare (to make like, to pretend).