PRETENSE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pretense mean? 

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

1. the act of giving a false appearance

2. pretending with intention to deceive

3. imaginative intellectual play

4. a false or unsupportable quality

5. an artful or simulated semblance

  Familiarity information: PRETENSE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRETENSE (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("pretense" is a kind of...):

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

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

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)

Derivation:

pretend (make believe with the intent to deceive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pretending with intention to deceive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dissembling; feigning; pretence; pretense

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

deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)

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

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)

Derivation:

pretend (make believe with the intent to deceive)

pretentious (making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Imaginative intellectual play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

make-believe; pretence; pretense

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

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

A false or unsupportable quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pretence; pretense; pretension

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

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

Derivation:

pretend (put forward a claim and assert right or possession of)

Sense 5

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 ("pretense" is a kind of...):

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

 Context examples 

Meg got behind his chair under pretense of smoothing the wrinkles out of his tired forehead, and standing there, she said, with her panic increasing with every word...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then he began to chat of all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge into reality.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All were struck with the stranger's air, all wondered who he could be; and Kitty and Lydia, determined if possible to find out, led the way across the street, under pretense of wanting something in an opposite shop, and fortunately had just gained the pavement when the two gentlemen, turning back, had reached the same spot.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Meg drew her aside, under pretense of pinning up a loose braid, and said approvingly, "It was dreadfully provoking, but you kept your temper, and I'm so glad, Jo."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

No sooner had the guest paid the usual stale compliments and bowed himself out, than Jenny, under pretense of asking an important question, informed Mr. Davis, the teacher, that Amy March had pickled limes in her desk.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)