WordWeb Online

1. The act of giving a false appearance
   "his conformity was only pretense"
   - pretence [Brit, Cdn], pretending, simulation, feigning
    
2. Pretending with intention to deceive
   - pretence [Brit, Cdn], feigning, dissembling
    
3. Imaginative intellectual play
   - pretence [Brit, Cdn], make-believe
    
4. A false or unsupportable quality
   - pretension, pretence [Brit, Cdn]
    
5. An artful or simulated semblance
   "under the pretense of friendship he betrayed them"
   - guise, pretence [Brit, Cdn], pretext

Derived forms: pretenses

See also: pretend, pretentious

Type of: artificiality, color [US], colour [Brit, Cdn], deceit, deception, dissembling, dissimulation, gloss, imagery, imagination, imaging, mental imagery, misrepresentation, semblance

Encyclopedia: Pretense