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View synonyms for pretender

pretender

[ pri-ten-der ]

noun

  1. a person who pretends, especially for a dishonest purpose.
  2. an aspirant or claimant (often followed by to ):

    a pretender to the throne.

  3. a person who makes unjustified or false claims, statements, etc., as about personal status, abilities, intentions, or the like:

    a pretender to literary genius.



pretender

/ prɪˈtɛndə /

noun

  1. a person who pretends or makes false allegations
  2. a person who mounts a claim, as to a throne or title


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Word History and Origins

Origin of pretender1

First recorded in 1585–95; pretend + -er 1

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Example Sentences

First-round matchups and predictionsMetrics — both conventional and less traditional — can provide clues about which teams deserve to be considered contenders, and which are mere pretenders.

So, as you fill out your brackets this week, here’s a quick way to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

And cancer, deceiver, pretender, coward; it cannot even subsist without the vibrant people it depends on.

All was jolly and genial between the king of late night and the pretender to the throne.

Instead, the pairing served as a weekly reminder that the generic Low was a mere pretender to the throne.

The Daily Pic: A stunning MoMA retrospective sheds new light on our greatest pretender.

Rush Limbaugh has called Dede Scozzafava a “pretender” and an “extreme liberal Republican” who “might as well be a Democrat.”

Consummate liar and comedian, or true man and no pretender, his eyes did not falter.

Is it to the emblem of the House of York, or the badge of the Pretender?

A captivating romance of love and chivalry—the adventures of a charming highwayman of the days of the English Pretender.

This shall be left in my hands by him for thirty days, during which the pretender shall leave France.

The young Pretender, followed by about fifty Scotch and Irish adventurers, meanwhile, came incog.

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pretendedpretense