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Pretense   /pritˈɛns/   Listen
noun
Pretence, Pretense  n.  
1.
The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. "Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power." "I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford."
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 Caesar'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."
4.
Intention; design. (Obs.) "A very pretense and purpose of unkindness." Note: See the Note under Offense.
Synonyms: Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse. 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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pretense" Quotes from Famous Books



... the King of England succeeded in taking Prince David, the brother of Leolin, and, under the pretense that he had been guilty of treason, he cut off his head too, and set it up on another pole at the Tower of London, by the ...
— Richard II - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... to error; nature and certainty is very hard to come at, and infallibility is mere vanity and pretense.—Marcus Antoninus. ...
— Pearls of Thought • Maturin M. Ballou
... reader signed John Healey, who was the translator.{2} This carried the title: "The Discovery of a New World, or a Description of the South Indies hitherto unknown."{3} It is a satirical work with no pretense of touching upon realities. Hallam wrote of it: "I can only produce two books by English authors in this first part of the seventeenth century which fall properly under the class of novels or romances; and of these one is written ...
— The Isle Of Pines (1668) - and, An Essay in Bibliography by W. C. Ford • Henry Neville
... He made pretense of agreeing to Pharaoh's suggestion, and the chief steward of the king gave him an abundant store of gold and silver and jewels, also sheep and oxen and camels. Abraham was conducted to a beautiful palace, where many slaves ...
— Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends • Gertrude Landa
... balance of power and the balance of property do not coincide. This chiefly happens where any rank or order of the state has acquired a large share in the property; but, from the original constitution of the government, has no share in the power. Under what pretense would any individual of that order assume authority in public affairs? As men are commonly much attached to their ancient government, it is not to be expected that the public would ever favor such ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. IV (of X)--Great Britain and Ireland II • Various


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