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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.
  2. adj. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious. See Synonyms at showy.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Pretended; unfounded; false.
  2. Full of pretension, or claims to greater excellence or importance than the truth warrants; attempting to pass for more than the actual worth or importance; making an exaggerated outward show.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.
  2. adj. Ostentatious; intended to impress others.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Full of pretension; disposed to lay claim to more than is one's; presuming; assuming.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction
  2. adj. (of a display) tawdry or vulgar
  3. adj. intended to attract notice and impress others

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • johnmperry Can't be that incomparable, I can't even remember it! I remember most of them, but that one not. Jun 26, 2008

  • skipvia Which he stole from the incomparable Fawlty Towers, "The Psychiatrist" episode. Jun 26, 2008

  • johnmperry Pretentious? Moi?
    - great line from Eddie Murphy Jun 26, 2008

‘pretentious’ has been looked up 4214 times, loved by 6 people, added to 84 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.