Noun: pretense 'pree,ten(t)s or pri'ten(t)s
Usage: N. Amer (elsewhere: pretence)
Usage: N. Amer (elsewhere: pretence)
- The act of giving a false appearance
"his conformity was only pretense";
- pretence [Brit, Cdn], pretending, simulation
- Pretending with intention to deceive
"His pretense of innocence fooled no one";
- pretence [Brit, Cdn], dissembling
- An artful or simulated semblance
"under the pretense of friendship he betrayed them";
- guise, pretence [Brit, Cdn], pretext
- A false or unsupportable quality
"Her pretense of ignorance fooled no one";
- pretension, pretence [Brit, Cdn]
- Imaginative intellectual play
"His pretense of ignorance fooled no one";
- pretence [Brit, Cdn], make-believe
- The quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)
"His pretense of expertise fooled no one";
- pretentiousness, pretension, largeness, pretence [Brit, Cdn]
Derived forms: pretenses
Type of: artificiality, color [US], colour [Brit, Cdn], deceit, deception, dissembling, dissimulation, gloss, imagery, imagination, imaging, mental imagery, misrepresentation, semblance, unnaturalness
Encyclopedia: Pretense