pretension
1the laying of a claim to something.
a claim or title to something.
Often pretensions . a claim made, especially indirectly or by implication, to some quality, merit, or the like: They laughed at my pretensions to superior judgment.
a claim to dignity, importance, or merit.
pretentiousness.
the act of pretending or alleging.
an allegation of doubtful veracity.
a pretext.
Origin of pretension
1Other words for pretension
Words Nearby pretension
Other definitions for pretension (2 of 2)
(in prestressed-concrete construction) to apply tension to (reinforcing strands) before the concrete is poured; prestress. : Compare posttension (def. 1).
to make (a concrete member) with pretensioned reinforcement.
Origin of pretension
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use pretension in a sentence
Buterin is wryly funny and almost wholly devoid of pretension or ego.
The Man Behind Ethereum Is Worried About Crypto's Future | Andrew R. Chow/Denver | March 18, 2022 | TimeAs Lipstein skewers the pretensions and delusions of literary ambition, he reveals the mental tricks that allow writers to imagine that they care only for art, not money or fame.
His great divide stemmed from his love of science and hatred of literary pretension.
Who Said Science and Art Were Two Cultures? - Issue 108: Change | Kevin Berger | November 17, 2021 | NautilusMia Hansen-Løve, always a perceptive director and often a terrific one, takes that risk with Bergman Island—and in the end, after nearly running aground on the rocky shoals of pretension, it pays off.
Bergman Island Is the Rare Movie About Writers Trying To Write That Really Works | Stephanie Zacharek | October 15, 2021 | TimeNeighborhood bowling alleys have a total lack of pretension in the best way.
America’s Independent Bowling Alleys Might Not Make It Through the Pandemic | Emma Orlow | January 15, 2021 | Eater
Trekkies are defensive about the minutiae of their sacred source material, sometimes to the point of pretension.
Humor, after all, is a social corrective against arrogance, ignorance and pretension.
But it's also because, from the APF's point of view, pretension is bad business.
People loved Julia because she was very straightforward, and she didn't put on any airs, or have any pretension.
“So corrupt, evil, vile American liberal culture, such United States pretension,” as Pygmy reports.
The garden was in a perfect state of cultivation, but without the least pretension to taste in its arrangement.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferThe comic poets ridiculed pretension, arrogance, quackery, and lies.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I | John LordThe truth about the Carlist pretension is so little known in England that it may be well to state it.
Spanish Life in Town and Country | L. Higgin and Eugne E. StreetThe coward is boastful when there is no danger: pretension succeeds in the absence of real merit!
The Indian in his Wigwam | Henry R. SchoolcraftAnd I'm actuated by positive benevolence; I've that impudent pretension.
The Tragic Muse | Henry James
British Dictionary definitions for pretension
/ (prɪˈtɛnʃən) /
(often plural) a false or unsupportable claim, esp to merit, worth, or importance
a specious or unfounded allegation; pretext
the state or quality of being pretentious
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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