pretense

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the act of giving a false appearance
  2. noun pretending with intention to deceive
  3. noun imaginative intellectual play

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetēnsus, past participle of Latin praetendō (“to pretend”), from prae- (“before”) + tendō (“to stretch”); see pretend.

In classic literature

Synonyms

pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning

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