WordWeb Online

1. A false or unsupportable quality
   - pretense [N. Amer], pretence [Brit, Cdn]
    
2. The advancing of a claim
   "his pretension to the crown"; "the town still puts forward pretensions as a famous resort"
    
3. The quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)
   - pretentiousness, largeness

Derived forms: pretensions

See also: pretend

Type of: artificiality, claim, unnaturalness