Lexic.us

Definition of Pretense

1. Noun. The act of giving a false appearance. "His conformity was only pretending"

2. Noun. Pretending with intention to deceive.

3. Noun. Imaginative intellectual play.

4. Noun. A false or unsupportable quality.

5. Noun. An artful or simulated semblance. "Under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"

Definition of Pretense

1. n. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension.

Definition of Pretense

1. Noun. (American English) A false or hypocritical profession, as, under ''pretense'' of friendliness. ¹

2. Noun. Intention or purpose not real but professed. ¹

3. Noun. An unsupported claim made or implied. ¹

4. Noun. An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Pretense

1. the act of pretending [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Pretense

pretend pretendant pretendants pretended pretendedly pretendence pretendences pretender pretenders pretendership

pretenderships pretendeth pretending pretendingly pretends pretense (current term) pretensed pretenseful pretenseless pretenses

pretension pretensioned pretensioning pretensionless pretensions pretentative pretention pretentions pretentious pretentiously

Literary usage of Pretense

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Treatise on the Law of Crimes by William Lawrence Clark, William Lawrence Marshall, Herschel Bouton Lazell (1905)
"An indictment will lie for obtaining property by a false pretense, notwithstanding the lapse of time between the making of the pretense and the obtaining of ..."

2. South Eastern Reporter by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, West Publishing Company, South Carolina Supreme Court (1910)
"This is the whole statute, eliminating duplicating words and those stating other kinds of false pretense. This Indictment charges that the defendant, ..."

3. A Treatise on the Criminal Law as Now Administered in the United States by Emlin McClain (1897)
"SUFFICIENCY OF THE FALSE pretense. § 666. False pretense; what constitutes.— A false pretense has been defined as such a fraudulent representation of a ..."

4. American Law and Procedure by James Parker Hall, James De Witt Andrews (1910)
"If presenting the check for payment could be considered a false pretense ... It has been held that there can be no conviction unless the pretense is one ..."

5. Handbook of Criminal Law by William Lawrence Clark, William Ephraim Mikell (1915)
"to defraud need not have been present when the false pretense was first made, if it was present when the pretense was reiterated;81 it must exist, however, ..."

6. Handbook of Criminal Law by William Lawrence Clark, William Ephraim Mikell (1915)
"to defraud need not have been present when the false pretense was first made, if it was present when the pretense was reiterated;81 it must exist, however, ..."

7. Handbook of criminal law by William Lawrence Clark, William Ephraim Mikell (1915)
"to defraud need not have been present when the false pretense was first made, if it was present when the pretense was reiterated;81 it must exist, however, ..."

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