Synonyms

let on

British

verb

to allow (something, such as a secret) to be known; reveal

he never let on that he was married
(tr) to cause or encourage to be believed; pretend

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

let on Idioms

Reveal one's true feelings or a fact, allow something to be known, as in Don't let on that you met her before . This usage is probably a shortening of let it on someone . [c. 1700]
Pretend, as in He let on that he was very angry, but in fact he didn't care a bit . [First half of 1800s] Also see let in on .

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I let on like I hadn’t seen this because I knew what it was.

From Literature

Only now I suspected Gran knew more than she let on, but for some reason, she wanted to keep it from me.

From Literature

“I think he’s running out of steam,” a few of my D.C. happy hour comrades confessed Wednesday after the hearings, “Or he’s really sicker than he lets on.”

From Salon

The total cost to train and run DeepSeek’s model was exponentially higher than the company let on, and investors failed to consider that businesses generally wouldn’t use Chinese models due to security concerns.

From Barron's

Here’s a secret: I was a much better seamster than I let on.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023