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pretense

noun
/ˈpɹiːtɛns/

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetēnsus, past participle of Latin praetendō (“to pretend”), from prae- (“before”) + tendō (“to stretch”); see pretend.

  1. derived from praetendō — “to pretend”
  2. derived from praetēnsus
  3. borrowed from pretensse

Definitions

  1. The action of pretending

    The action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.

    • He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.
    • "Lady Little", the title that she used, was just a pretense.
    • She appeared to weep uncontrollably, but it was all pretense.

  2. Affectation or ostentation of manner.

    • She was a plain-speaking woman without a hint of pretense.

  3. Intention or purpose not real but professed.

    • with only a pretense of accuracy
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. An unsupported claim made or implied.

      • They wished to demask hidden metaphysics, to demask the false pretenses of sentences purportively descriptive but de facto metaphysical or evaluative.

    2. An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.

    3. Intention

      Intention; design.

      • A very pretence and purpose of unkindness.

The neighborhood

Derived

pretensed, pretenseful, pretenseless

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at pretense. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01pretense02pretending03pretend04simulated05simulate06pretended07feigned

A definitional loop anchored at pretense. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at pretense

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA