Pretence
[prɪ'tens]
Definition
(a.) Alt. of Pretenceless
(n.) The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension.
(n.) 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 Caesar's death.
(n.) That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
(n.) Intention; design.
Inputed by Bartholomew
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [Written also Pretense.] [1]. Show (to conceal a thing to be done), false appearance, mask, color, simulation, affectation, cant, PRETEXT, clap-trap.[2]. Subterfuge, evasion, excuse.
Typed by Andy
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Excuse, pretext, fabrication, simulation, cloak, mask, color, show, garb, plea,assumption, make_believe, outside_show, pretension
ANT:Verity, reality, truth, simplicity, candor, guilelessness, openness,veritableness, actuality, fact
Editor: Vanessa
Examples
- Is THAT the secret of your pretence of innocence, and your story about Rosanna Spearman? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Would you two gentlemen object to making a pretence of taking a glass of something in my company at the Fellowships? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I could not be expected to give her up, he said, after a moment's hesitation: it was not a case for any pretence of generosity. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Poor pretence as it is, these allusions to her being expected keep up hope within him. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Twemlow; blessed release for the dear man if she really was his daughter, nervous even under the pretence that she is, well he may be. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I made a foolish pretence of not at first recognizing it, and then told her. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- She showed it by brushing away viciously at Margaret's hair, under pretence of being in a great hurry to go to Mrs. Hale. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I turned him hastily on some pretence, and held him in conversation until it was gone. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Sitting beside him, I made a pretence of working for my dear, as he had always been used to joke about my being busy. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- In the university of Oxford, the greater part of the public professors have, for these many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- How thoughtfully remind me, yet with no pretence of doing so, of the trust in which I held the orphan child! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Never, on any pretence, mind! Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- He came on the pretence of playing golf. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Louisa understood the loving pretence, and her heart smote her. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Fair words and fair pretences; but I penetrated below those assertions of themselves and depreciations of me, and they were no better. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Then you married me on false pretences. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Then you married me on false pretences? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Their usual pretences are, sometimes the high price of provisions, sometimes the great profit which their masters make by their work. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Checked by Giselle