pretense

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(prē'tĕns', prĭ-tĕns') pronunciation
n.
  1. The act of pretending; a false appearance or action intended to deceive.
  2. A false or studied show; an affectation: a pretense of nonchalance.
  3. A professed but feigned reason or excuse; a pretext: under false pretenses.
  4. Something imagined or pretended.
  5. Mere show without reality; outward appearance.
  6. A right asserted with or without foundation; a claim. See synonyms at claim.
  7. The quality or state of being pretentious; ostentation.

[Middle English, from Old French pretensse, from Medieval Latin *praetēnsa, from Late Latin, feminine of praetēnsus, alteration of Latin praetentus, past participle of praetendere, to pretend, assert. See pretend.]


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noun

  1. The presentation of something false as true: charade, make-believe. See honest/dishonest, true/false.
  2. A display of insincere behavior: act, acting, disguise, dissemblance, masquerade, sham, show, simulation. See honest/dishonest, true/false.
  3. Artificial behavior adopted to impress others: affectation, affectedness, air (used in plural), mannerism, pose. See honest/dishonest, true/false.
  4. A professed rather than a real reason: pretension, pretext. See honest/dishonest.
  5. A deceptive outward appearance: cloak, color, coloring, cover, disguise, disguisement, façade, face, false colors, front, gloss, guise, mask, masquerade, pretext, semblance, show, veil, veneer, window-dressing. Slang put-on. See show/hide.
  6. A legitimate or supposed right to demand something as one's rightful due: claim, pretension, title. Slang dibs. See owned/unowned, request.


n

Definition: falsehood, affected show; cover
Antonyms: honesty, openness, reality, truth

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'pretense'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to pretense, see:

Translations:

Pretence

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - foregivende, krav, prætention

Nederlands (Dutch)
voorwendsel, valse schijn, ongegronde aanspraak op, doen alsof, pretentie

Français (French)
n. - faux-semblant, simulacre, simulation, prétexte

Deutsch (German)
n. - Vorwand, Verstellung, Anspruch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - προσποίηση, πρόφαση, πρόσχημα, επίφαση, (αστήρικτη) αξίωση ή διεκδίκηση

Italiano (Italian)
pretesto, scusa, finzione, simulazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pretensão (f), fingimento (m), pretexto (m)

Русский (Russian)
предлог, претензия, притворство

Español (Spanish)
n. - pretexto, fingimiento, simulación

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - anspråk, anspråksfullhet, tomt prål, förevändning, förespeglande

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
假装, 借口, 虚伪

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 假裝, 藉口, 虛偽

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구실, 겉치레, 허영

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 見せかけ, 口実, 見せびらかし

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) زعم, تظاهر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮יומרה, מסווה, התחזות, העמדת-פנים, תביעה, אמתלה‬


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