Adjacent Words

pretence definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a false or unsupportable quality [syn: pretension, pretense, pretence]
2: an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them" [syn: guise, pretense, pretence, pretext]
3: pretending with intention to deceive [syn: pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling]
4: imaginative intellectual play [syn: pretense, pretence, make-believe]
5: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending" [syn: pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning]

Merriam Webster's

noun see pretense

Oxford Reference Dictionary

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)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pretense Pre*tense", Pretence Pre*tence, n. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.] 1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. --Spenser. Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power. --Locke. I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. --Evelyn. 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 C[ae]sar's death. 3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint. Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince. --Dryden. 4. Intention; design. [Obs.] A very pretense and purpose of unkindness. --Shak. Note: See the Note under Offense. Syn: Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse. Usage: Pretense, Pretext. A pretense is something held out as real when it is not so, thus falsifying the truth. A pretext is something woven up in order to cover or conceal one's true motives, feelings, or reasons. Pretext is often, but not always, used in a bad sense.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pretence Pre*tence", n., Pretenceful Pre*tence"ful, a., Pretenceless Pre*tence"*less, a. See Pretense, Pretenseful, Pretenseless.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pretences) Note: in AM, use 'pretense' 1. A pretence is an action or way of behaving that is intended to make people believe something that is not true. Welland made a pretence of writing a note in his pad... We have to go along with the pretence that things are getting better... N-VAR 2. If you do something under false pretences, you do it when people do not know the truth about you and your intentions. I could not go on living with a man who had married me under false pretences... PHRASE: usu under PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. [Written also Pretense.] 1. Show (to conceal a thing to be done), false appearance, seeming, semblance, mask, cloak, color, simulation, affectation. 2. Subterfuge, excuse, pretext, fabrication. 3. Assumption, claim to notice. 4. Pretension, claim.

Moby Thesaurus

airs, appearance, artifice, blind, camouflage, cloak, cover, cover-up, deception, disguise, display, dodge, excuse, fable, fabrication, facade, fairy tale, fakery, faking, falsification, feigning, fiction, figment, front, guise, hoax, humbug, humbuggery, hypocrisy, impression, invention, make-believe, mask, masquerade, ostentation, pose, posturing, pretending, pretension, pretentiousness, pretext, ruse, sham, show, story, veil