1. pretence(n = noun.attribute) pretense, pretension - a false or unsupportable quality; Array
is a kind of artificiality
2. pretence(n = noun.attribute) guise, pretense, pretext - an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"
is a kind of color, colour, gloss, semblance
3. pretence(n = noun.communication) dissembling, feigning, pretense - pretending with intention to deceive; Array
is a kind of deceit, deception, misrepresentation
has particulars: bluff, pretext, stalking-horse, hypocrisy, lip service
4. pretence(n = noun.cognition) make-believe, pretense - imaginative intellectual play; Array
is a kind of imagery, imagination, imaging, mental imagery
5. pretence(n = noun.act) feigning, pretending, pretense, simulation - the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending"
is a kind of deceit, deception, dissembling, dissimulation
has particulars: appearance, show, make-believe, pretend, affectation, affectedness, mannerism, pose, masquerade
See Pretense, Pretenseful, Pretenseless. [1913 Webster]
1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. Spenser. [1913 Webster]
"Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power." [1913 Webster]
"I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford." [1913 Webster]
2. The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Cæsar's death. [1913 Webster]
3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint. [1913 Webster]
"Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense
Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince." [1913 Webster]
4. Intention; design. [1913 Webster]
" See the
"A very pretense and purpose of unkindness." [1913 Webster]
pretence, n. (US pretense)
1 pretending, make-believe.
2 a a pretext or excuse (on the slightest pretence). b a false show of intentions or motives (under the pretence of friendship; under false pretences).
3 (foll. by to) a claim, esp. a false or ambitious one (has no pretence to any great talent).
4 a affectation, display. b pretentiousness, ostentation (stripped of all pretence).
Etymology:
ME f. AF pretense ult. f. med.L pretensus pretended (as PRETEND)