pretense
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetēnsus, past participle of Latin praetendō (“to pretend”), from prae- (“before”) + tendō (“to stretch”); see pretend.
Pronunciation
Noun
pretense (countable and uncountable, plural pretenses) (American spelling)
- (US) A false or hypocritical assertion, implication, or representation.
- under pretense of friendliness
- Intention or purpose not real but professed.
- with only a pretense of accuracy
- An unsupported claim made or implied.
- An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.
Synonyms
- affectation denotes deception for the sake of escape from punishment or an awkward situation
- false pretense
- fiction
- imitation
- pretext
- sham
- subterfuge
- See also Thesaurus:pretext
Related terms
Translations
false or hypocritical profession
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Further reading
- “pretense”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “pretense”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “pretense”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Spanish
Verb
pretense
- inflection of pretensar: