pretense

Meaning

Noun

• A false or hypocritical profession
• Intention or purpose not real but professed.
• An unsupported claim made or implied.
• An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.

Related

Similar words

• affectation denotes deception for the sake of escape from punishment or an awkward situation
• false pretense
• fiction
• imitation
• pretext
• sham
• subterfuge

Origin

• Borrowed from Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetēnsus, past participle of Latin praetendō, from prae- + tendō; see pretend.