pretension

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a false or unsupportable quality
noun the advancing of a claim
noun the quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)

From Middle English pretencioun, pretensioun, from Medieval Latin prētēnsiō.

You have pretensions, Madame.” “Why pretensions? — The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories, Kate Chopin
He made the greatest pretensions to piety. — Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass
He made pretensions to literature and to materialism. — Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

pretense, pretence

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