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pretence

pre·tence
P p

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [pri-tens, pree-tens]
    • /prɪˈtɛns, ˈpri tɛns/
    • /prɪˈtens/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [pri-tens, pree-tens]
    • /prɪˈtɛns, ˈpri tɛns/

Definitions of pretence word

  • noun pretence pretending or feigning; make-believe: My sleepiness was all pretense. 1
  • noun pretence a false show of something: a pretense of friendship. 1
  • noun pretence a piece of make-believe. 1
  • noun pretence the act of pretending or alleging falsely. 1
  • noun pretence a false allegation or justification: He excused himself from the lunch on a pretense of urgent business. 1
  • noun pretence insincere or false profession: His pious words were mere pretense. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of pretence

First appearance:

before 1375
One of the 22% oldest English words
1375-1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin *praetēnsa, noun use of feminine of praetēnsus, past participle (replacing Latin praetentus) of praetendere to pretend

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Pretence

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

pretence popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 73% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

pretence usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for pretence

adj pretence

noun pretence

  • act — When you act, you do something for a particular purpose.
  • acting — Acting is the activity or profession of performing in plays or films.
  • affectation — If you say that someone's attitude or behaviour is an affectation, you disapprove of the fact that it is not genuine or natural, but is intended to impress other people.
  • affectedness — assumed artificially; unnatural; feigned: affected sophistication; an affected British accent.
  • airs — affected manners intended to impress others (esp in the phrases give oneself airs, put on airs)

Top questions with pretence

  • what is false pretence?
  • what does pretence mean?
  • what is pretence?
  • what is the meaning of pretence?

See also

Matching words

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