Noun: pretension pri'ten-shun
- The quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)
"His pretension to expertise in the field was unfounded";
- pretentiousness, largeness, pretence [Brit, Cdn], pretense [N. Amer]
- The advancing of a claim
"his pretension to the crown"; "the town still puts forward pretensions as a famous resort"
- A false or unsupportable quality
"His pretension to nobility was quickly exposed as a lie";
- pretense [N. Amer], pretence [Brit, Cdn]
Derived forms: pretensions
Type of: artificiality, claim, unnaturalness
Encyclopedia: Pretension