PRETENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pretence mean? 

• PRETENCE (noun)
  The noun PRETENCE has 5 senses:

1. a false or unsupportable quality

2. an artful or simulated semblance

3. pretending with intention to deceive

4. imaginative intellectual play

5. the act of giving a false appearance

  Familiarity information: PRETENCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRETENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A false or unsupportable quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pretence; pretense; pretension

Hypernyms ("pretence" is a kind of...):

artificiality (the quality of being produced by people and not occurring naturally)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An artful or simulated semblance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

guise; pretence; pretense; pretext

Context example:

under the guise of friendship he betrayed them

Hypernyms ("pretence" is a kind of...):

color; colour; gloss; semblance (an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pretending with intention to deceive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dissembling; feigning; pretence; pretense

Hypernyms ("pretence" is a kind of...):

deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pretence"):

bluff (pretense that your position is stronger than it really is)

pretext; stalking-horse (something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason)

hypocrisy; lip service (an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Imaginative intellectual play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

make-believe; pretence; pretense

Hypernyms ("pretence" is a kind of...):

imagery; imagination; imaging; mental imagery (the ability to form mental images of things or events)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The act of giving a false appearance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

feigning; pretence; pretending; pretense; simulation

Context example:

his conformity was only pretending

Hypernyms ("pretence" is a kind of...):

deceit; deception; dissembling; dissimulation (the act of deceiving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pretence"):

appearance; show (pretending that something is the case in order to make a good impression)

make-believe; pretend (the enactment of a pretense)

affectation; affectedness; mannerism; pose (a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display)

charade; masquerade (making a false outward show)

 Context examples 

Mr. Woodhouse must not, under the specious pretence of a morning drive, and an hour or two spent at Donwell, be tempted away to his misery.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

For myself, I am fighting my way on in the world against difficulties, and it would be ridiculous if I made a pretence of doing anything else.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On going down to breakfast the next morning, she found there had just been a decent pretence on the lady's side of meaning to leave them.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, when your stepfather comes back.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a fool to attempt to make a pretence that way.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

That pretence I have carried out with the thoroughness of the true artist.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Get the captain and squire down to the cabin, and then make some pretence to send for me.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Wake Sophie when you go upstairs, under pretence of requesting her to rouse you in good time to- morrow; for you must be dressed and have finished breakfast before eight.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He came on the pretence of playing golf.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The conclusion was scarcely intelligible from increasing fright, for she found that Mr. Crawford, under pretence of receiving the note, was coming towards her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)