PRETENSE

pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning

(noun) the act of giving a false appearance; “his conformity was only pretending”

guise, pretense, pretence, pretext

(noun) an artful or simulated semblance; “under the guise of friendship he betrayed them”

pretension, pretense, pretence

(noun) a false or unsupportable quality

pretense, pretence, make-believe

(noun) imaginative intellectual play

pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling

(noun) pretending with intention to deceive

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

pretense (countable and uncountable, plural pretenses) (American spelling)

(US) A false or hypocritical profession

Intention or purpose not real but professed.

An unsupported claim made or implied.

An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.

Synonyms

• affectation denotes deception for the sake of escape from punishment or an awkward situation

• false pretense

• fiction

• imitation

• pretext

• sham

• subterfuge

• See also pretext

Anagrams

• Petersen, pre-teens, preteens, terpenes

Source: Wiktionary

Pre*tense", Pre*tence, n. Etym: [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]

1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. Spenser. Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power. Locke. I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. Evelyn.

2. The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Cæsar's death.

3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint. Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince. Dryden.

4. Intention; design. [Obs.] A very pretense and purpose of unkindness. Shak.

Note: See the Note under Offense.

Syn.

– Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse.

– Pretense, Pretext. A pretense is something held out as real when it is not so, thus falsifying the truth. A pretext is something woven up in order to cover or conceal one's true motives, feelings, or reasons. Pretext is often, but not always, used in a bad sense.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition