Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A claim or aspiration to a particular status or quality.
- n. Pretentiousness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- 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.
from The 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.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- 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
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.