Pretense

Noun

 * 1) 🇺🇸 A false or hypocritical profession, as, under pretense of friendliness; sham, pretext, claim; an effort to give some appearance or mislead.

Adjectives for Pretense
specious; elaborate; cunning; slight; vile; selfish; theatrical; plausible; vain; boyish; transparent; empty; offensive; innocent; weary; unfounded; scorned; boastful; mere; false; insincere; melancholy; listless; emotional.

Verbs for Pretense
abandon—; accuse of—; afford—; assume—; avoid—; breed—; concoct—; criticize—; don—; eradicate—; fabricate—; garb in—; inveigh against—; justify—; offer—; penetrate—; pierce—; possess—; relax—; ridicule—; simulate—; strip of—; wallow in—; —awes; —deceives; —disguises;—dis¬torts ; —encroaches ; —masks; —minces; —misrepresents; —ornaments; —overacts ; —overcharges ; —perverts; —poses; —strains; —transgresses.

Thesaurus
masquerade, mere show, meretriciousness, natural right, ostensible motive, ostent, ostentation, ostentatiousness, outward show, pageant, playacting, poor excuse, pose, posing, posture, power, prerogative, prescription, presumptive right, pretension, pretentiousness, pretext, proper claim, property right, protestation, prunes and prisms, public image, public motive, put-off, put-on, putting on airs, rational ground, rationale, reason, reason for, reason why, refuge, representation, right, screen, seeming, semblance, sham, show, simulacrum, simulation, smoke screen, speciousness, stalking-horse, stated cause, stratagem, stylishness, subterfuge, the big idea, the idea, the whatfor, the wherefore, the why, title, trick, underlying reason, unnaturalness, varnish, veil, vested interest, vested right, window dressing, acting, affectation, affectedness, air, airs, airs and graces, alibi, apology, appearance, appurtenance, artificiality, attitudinizing, authority, birthright, blind, bluff, bluffing, charade, cheating, claim, cloak, color, coloring, conjugal right, cover, cover story, cover-up, deceit, deception, delusion, demand, device, disguise, dissemblance, dissembling, dissimulation, divine right, droit, due, excuse, explanation, facade, face, faculty, fake, fakery, faking, false air, false front, false show, falsity, feigned belief, feigning, feint, four-flushing, fraud, front, gilt, gloss, guise, handle, humbug, humbuggery, hypocrisy, image, imposture, inalienable right, insincerity, interest, lame excuse, locus standi, loftiness, lofty affectations, make-believe, mannerism, mask,

Alternative forms

 * pretence (Only correct spelling in the UK, Irish Republic, and Commonwealth countries, and historical use in the United States)

Etymology
From pretensse: <  prætensus:, past participle of prætendere: < præ-: + tendere:; see pretend.

Synonyms

 * sham a substitution, imitation or counterfeit purporting to be the real thing
 * affectation denotes deception for the sake of escape from punishment or an awkward situation
 * subterfuge
 * See also Thesaurus:pretext

Related terms

 * pretend
 * pretender
 * pretension
 * pretentious
 * pretentiousness

Translations

 * Czech:


 * Russian:

Anagrams

 * Petersen
 * preteens, pre-teens
 * terpenes