Pretender
(Pre*tend"er) n.
1. One who lays claim, or asserts a title (to something); a claimant. Specifically, The pretender (Eng.
Hist.), the son or the grandson of James II., the heir of the royal family of Stuart, who laid claim to the
throne of Great Britain, from which the house was excluded by law.
It is the shallow, unimproved intellects that are the confident pretenders to certainty.
Glanvill. 2. One who pretends, simulates, or feigns.
Pretendership
(Pre*tend"er*ship), n. The character, right, or claim of a pretender. Swift.
Pretendingly
(Pre*tend"ing*ly), adv. As by right or title; arrogantly; presumptuously. Collier.
Pretense
(Pre*tense", 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.
Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power.
Locke.
I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford.
Evelyn. 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 Cæsar's death.
3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense
Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince.
Dryden. 4. Intention; design. [Obs.]
A very pretense and purpose of unkindness.
Shak. See the Note under Offense.
Syn. — Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse. — 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.
Pretensed
(Pre*tensed") a. Pretended; feigned. [Obs.] — Pre*tens"ed*ly adv. [Obs.]
Pretenseful
(Pre*tense"ful) a. Abounding in pretenses.
Pretenseless
(Pre*tense"less), a. Not having or making pretenses.
Pretension
(Pre*ten"sion) n. [Cf. F. prétention. See Pretend, Tension.]
1. The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title.
The arrogant pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussion.
Macaulay.
