Definition of "put-on" [put-on]

• Pretended; feigned. (adjective)
• Slang A deceptive outward appearance. (noun)
• Slang The act of teasing or misleading someone, especially for amusement. (noun)
• Slang Something, such as a prank, intended as a hoax or joke; a spoof. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "So too with the apparent shambling of his act: it is just that, a put-on."
• "I feel like they're being uber-respectful to dance music, and it's not a put-on and it's not some kind of post-ironicism or something."
• "If "Gris-Gris" at times flirts with schtick, the album's closer, an eight-minute incantation called "I Walk on Gilded Splinters," boils off any taint of put-on with its sinister groove, its seething invective and its backing female vocals filled with Creole curses."