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Definition of Pretence
1. Noun. A false or unsupportable quality.
2. Noun. An artful or simulated semblance. "Under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"
3. Noun. Pretending with intention to deceive.
Generic synonyms: Deceit, Deception, Misrepresentation
Specialized synonyms: Bluff, Pretext, Stalking-horse, Hypocrisy, Lip Service
Derivative terms: Dissemble, Feign, Pretend, Pretentious
4. Noun. Imaginative intellectual play.
Generic synonyms: Imagery, Imagination, Imaging, Mental Imagery
Derivative terms: Make-believe
5. Noun. The act of giving a false appearance. "His conformity was only pretending"
Generic synonyms: Deceit, Deception, Dissembling, Dissimulation
Specialized synonyms: Appearance, Show, Make-believe, Pretend, Affectation, Affectedness, Mannerism, Pose, Masquerade
Derivative terms: Feign, Pretend, Pretend, Simulate
Definition of Pretence
1. n. See Pretense, Pretenseful, Pretenseless.
Definition of Pretence
1. Noun. (British spelling) An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Pretence
1. pretense [n -S] - See also: pretense
Lexicographical Neighbors of Pretence
Literary usage of Pretence
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Junius: Including Letters by the Same Writer, Under Other Signatures, (now by Junius (1813)
"... been employed by an unprincipled administration, under the pretence of assisting
the civil power in carrying the sentence of the laws into execution. ..."
2. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by James George Frazer (1900)
"Perhaps this killing of the women, in which, however, lads who related to the
pretence of killing young ..."
3. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1887)
"Under the pretence of private business, a minister of rank and confidence was
secretly despatched to embrace the knees of Hor- ..."
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