pre·tense
Audio Help [pri-tens, pree-tens] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [pri-tens, pree-tens] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | pretending or feigning; make-believe: My sleepiness was all pretense. |
| 2. | a false show of something: a pretense of friendship. |
| 3. | a piece of make-believe. |
| 4. | the act of pretending or alleging falsely. |
| 5. | a false allegation or justification: He excused himself from the lunch on a pretense of urgent business. |
| 6. | insincere or false profession: His pious words were mere pretense. |
| 7. | the putting forth of an unwarranted claim. |
| 8. | the claim itself. |
| 9. | any allegation or claim: to obtain money under false pretenses. |
| 10. | pretension (usually fol. by to): destitute of any pretense to wit. |
| 11. | pretentiousness. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
pretense
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| pre·tense
Audio Help (prē'těns', prĭ-těns') Pronunciation Key
n.
[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.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
pretense
1425, "the putting forth of a claim," from M.Fr. pretensse, from fem. of L.L. prætensus, from L. prætensus, pp. of prætendere (see pretend). Meaning "false or hypocritical profession" is from 1545. Pretension is c.1600 meaning "assertion;" sense of "ostentation" is from 1727.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| pretense | |
noun | |
| 1. | the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending" |
| 2. | pretending with intention to deceive |
| 3. | imaginative intellectual play |
| 4. | a false or unsupportable quality [syn: pretension] |
| 5. | an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them" [syn: guise] |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
Pretense
Pre*tence"*less\, a. See Pretense, Pretenseful, Pretenseless.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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