Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A specious allegation; a pretext.
- n. A claim to something, such as a privilege or right. See Synonyms at claim.
- n. The advancing of a claim.
- n. Ostentatious display; pretentiousness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of putting forth a claim (specifically, a false one), particularly to merit, dignity, or importance; pretentiousness.
- n. Hence, a claim; an alleged or assumed right, not necessarily false.
- n. A false representation; a pretext; a sham.
- n. An assertion; a proposition.
Wiktionary
- n. A claim or aspiration to a particular status or quality.
- n. Pretentiousness.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title.
- n. A claim made, whether true or false; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)
- n. a false or unsupportable quality
- n. the advancing of a claim
Examples
“The moment this pretension is abandoned the sword will drop from our grasp, and we shall be ready to enter into treaties of amity and commerce mutually beneficial.”
“The first target of Everett's satire is the writing of fiction itself, which is portrayed implicitly as an enterprise saturated in pretension and moribund assumptions.”
“The almost complete lack of pretension is wonderful, though you can certainly find a bit of that in the gated communities.”
“Conservative status pretension might work differently, but status pretension is status pretension, and as a general matter, because the vast majority of educationally-based upwardly mobile classes in this country is liberal, it applies well to liberal habits.”
“As an engineer my tolerance for pretension is generally lower that that of the academics!”
The Autobiography of Mister Litlove « Tales from the Reading Room
“A Reader's Manifesto: Whatever happens, the old American scorn for pretension is bound to reassert itself someday, and dear God, let it be soon.”
“We're supposed to pretend that this embarrassing pretension is somehow normal, or worse, a statement of some sort.”
“I mean i get they're young and talented musicians as a whole but there is also an immaturity that results in pretension (Hysterics? it's not a great name) and the titles of the songs.”
live from new york, it's sunday afternoon! (Music (For Robots))
“Whatever happens, the old American scorn for pretension is bound to reassert itself someday, and dear God, let it be soon.”
“I think the word pretension has become like the word ironic - just this catch-all term to distance people from interesting experiences and cultural engagement and possible embarrassment.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pretension’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Random Words
lochia, confused, innoxious, naive, cockatrice, derisive, parsley, passive, casual, football, innuendo, Rumanian and 198 more...
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GRE
anomaly, assuage, enigma, equivocal, erudite, fervid, placate, lucid, opaque, precipitate, prodigal, zeal and 113 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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GMAT
part of speech, frown, brow, immensely, immense, incomprehensible, toil, concision, concise, proper noun, hyphenated, dash and 190 more...
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personal distaste
good grief, I'm getting irritable.
salvo, taboo, redoubtable, foment, intransigence, disingenuous, infarction, obviate, junta, aetiology, expedited, gerrymandering and 201 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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scott's Words
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asrai's Words
dangerous, love, endless, charcoal, lonesome, quiet, rhythm, rain, dark, dream, vivid, content and 79 more...
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