PRETENSION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pretension

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/pritˈɛnʃən/ Listen

noun

Pretension n.

The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title. "The arrogant pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussion."

A claim made, whether true or false; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character; as, pretensions to scholarship. "This was but an invention and pretension given out by the Spaniards." "Men indulge those opinions and practices that favor their pretensions."

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Etymology of 'Pretension'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pretension" Quotes from Famous Books

... is meant mainly to arouse in children an interest in the beginnings of our literature—asubject that is still terribly neglected in schools. It makes no pretension to being an adequate or satisfactory version ...

— The Translations of Beowulf - A Critical Biography • Chauncey Brewster Tinker

... ascribed to witchcraft; benevolence is but a weak agency compared to malignity; magnetism perverted to evil may solve half the riddles of sorcery. On this, however, I say no more at present. But as to that which you appear to reject as the most preposterous and incredible pretension of the mesmerists, and which you designate by the word 'clairvoyance,' it is clear to me that you have never yourself witnessed even those very imperfect exhibitions which you decide at once to be imposture. I say imperfect, because it is only a limited number of persons ...

— A Strange Story, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... gentle," said he, after a pause; "and that," he added, with a slight sigh, "is the only criterion by which I know the young and the beautiful!" Lucille now blushed, and with a slight mixture of pain in the blush, for she knew well that to beauty she had no pretension. "Are you a native of this town?" ...

— The Pilgrims Of The Rhine • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... been a week at St. Helena, condescended to insult him to his face by language so extravagantly, intolerably, and vulgarly offensive, as never ought, under any circumstances whatever, to have stained the lips of one who made any pretension to the character of a gentleman. Granting that Sir Hudson Lowe was not an officer of the first distinction—it must be admitted that he did no wrong in accepting a duty offered to him by his government; and that Napoleon was guilty, not only of indecorum, but of meanness, in reproaching a man so ...

— The History of Napoleon Buonaparte • John Gibson Lockhart

... servants of the cabaret thought it beneath the dignity of their sex to subscribe to such a pretension, for there was such a noise that D'Harmental thought it ...

— The Conspirators - The Chevalier d'Harmental • Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

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