pretender

American  

[pri-ten-der] / prɪˈtɛn dər /

noun

pretenders plural

1. a person who pretends, especially for a dishonest purpose.

2. an aspirant or claimant (often followed byto ).

   a pretender to the throne.

3. a person who makes unjustified or false claims, statements, etc., as about personal status, abilities, intentions, or the like.

   a pretender to literary genius.

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pretender British  

/ prɪˈtɛndə /

noun

1. a person who pretends or makes false allegations

2. a person who mounts a claim, as to a throne or title

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pretenders
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pretender

First recorded in 1585–95; pretend + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Playing for just an hour, they leaned into their garage punk roots, tearing through raw and ragged versions of hits like Best Of You, The Pretender and Everlong.

From BBC • Jun. 23, 2023

Soon after “A Pretender God” came another piece, “Cannon Fodder,” which showed a child in a Guy Fawkes mask standing in the middle of a railroad track, a slingshot raised at an oncoming train.

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2021

Hynde writes about the attack in her new memoir, "Reckless: My Life as a Pretender."

From US News • Sep. 4, 2015

For his curious "Pretender," the artist harnessed Parton's cover of "The Great Pretender" to create a wobbly version in which her voice drunkenly moves down to male tenor and bass.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2014

The cathedral contains a memorial tablet to Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, whose body for some while rested here; his brother, Henry, Cardinal York, owned a villa at Frascati.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 1 "Franciscans" to "French Language" by Various