Pretence

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pretence \Pre*tence"\, n., Pretenceful \Pre*tence"ful\, a.,
  Pretenceless \Pre*tence"*less\, a.
     See {Pretense}, {Pretenseful}, {Pretenseless}.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Pretense \Pre*tense"\, Pretence \Pre*tence\, n. [LL. praetensus,
     for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See {Pretend}, and
     cf. {Tension}.]
     1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption;
        pretension. --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right
              of solely inheriting property or power. --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to
              the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. --Evelyn.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. 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 C[ae]sar's death.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical
        show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense
              Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Intention; design. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A very pretense and purpose of unkindness. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: See the {Note} under {Offense}.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse.
  
     Usage: {Pretense}, {Pretext}. A pretense is something held
            out as real when it is not so, thus falsifying the
            truth. A pretext is something woven up in order to
            cover or conceal one's true motives, feelings, or
            reasons. Pretext is often, but not always, used in a
            bad sense.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pretence
       n 1: a false or unsupportable quality [syn: {pretension}, {pretense}]
       2: an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of
          friendship he betrayed them" [syn: {guise}, {pretense}, {pretext}]
       3: pretending with intention to deceive [syn: {pretense}, {feigning},
           {dissembling}]
       4: imaginative intellectual play [syn: {pretense}, {make-believe}]
       5: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was
          only pretending" [syn: {pretense}, {pretending}, {simulation},
           {feigning}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  46 Moby Thesaurus words for "pretence":
     airs, appearance, artifice, blind, camouflage, cloak, cover,
     cover-up, deception, disguise, display, dodge, excuse, fable,
     fabrication, facade, fairy tale, fakery, faking, falsification,
     feigning, fiction, figment, front, guise, hoax, humbug, humbuggery,
     hypocrisy, impression, invention, make-believe, mask, masquerade,
     ostentation, pose, posturing, pretending, pretension,
     pretentiousness, pretext, ruse, sham, show, story, veil