pretence
Americannoun
noun
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the act of pretending
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a false display; affectation
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a claim, esp a false one, to a right, title, or distinction
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make-believe or feigning
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a false claim or allegation; pretext
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a less common word for pretension
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pretence and authenticity are subjects that White spends a lot of time thinking about.
From The Guardian • Jun. 1, 2014
His gentlemanly extraction was with him all a Vain Pretence and silly outward show.
From The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... by Sala, George Augustus
It is a safe and common Way to deceive under Pretence of Friendship; I must own, however safe and common it is, it is not altogether blameless.
From The Lovers Assistant, or, New Art of Love by Fielding, Henry
But it was impossible to rear on stable foundations a Pleasure House of Pretence.
From The King's Mirror by Hope, Anthony
The same Standard is duly differenced with their own Marks of Cadency and their Shields of Pretence for the different members of the Royal Family.
From The Handbook to English Heraldry by Utting, R. B.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
