pretentious

[pri-ten-shuhs]

adjective

1. characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved.

   a pretentious, self-important waiter.

   Synonyms: pompous

2. making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

   Synonyms: showy

3. full of pretense or pretension; having no factual basis; false.

pretentious

/ prɪˈtɛnʃəs /

adjective

1. making claim to distinction or importance, esp undeservedly

2. having or creating a deceptive outer appearance of great worth; ostentatious

Other Word Forms

• pretentiously adverb
• pretentiousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pretentious¹

First recorded in 1835–45; earlier pretensious; equivalent to pretense + -ious

Synonym Study

See bombastic. See grandiose.

Example Sentences

I just came back—I sound so pretentious.

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“It is pretentious,” she protested to her diary on Sept. 6, 1922.

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A pretentious young critic for the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma who never takes off his dark glasses, even at the movies, and rarely stops smoking, he is aching to make a feature of his own.

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The writing is muddled at times by a certain narrative slippage wherein one cannot tell whether the biting observations about clueless classmates and pretentious doctors come from Alice or Mr. deBoer.

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Ms. King seeds her love story with engaging dialogue and literary references that are never pretentious or gratuitous.

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Related Words

• arty 
• exaggerated 
• grandiose 
• hollow 
• overblown 
• pompous 
• showy 
• stilted 
• turgid