Definition of pretense - WordReference.com Dictionary

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pretense:

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Adapted From: WordNet 2.0 Copyright 2003 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

pretense
A	noun
	1	pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning
				the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending"
		Category Tree: act; human action; human activity ╚activity ╚wrongdoing; wrongful conduct; misconduct; actus reus ╚falsification; misrepresentaation ╚deception; deceit; dissembling; dissimulation ╚pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning ╚masquerade ╚affectation; mannerism; pose; affectedness ╚make-believe; pretend ╚appearance; show
	2	guise, pretense, pretence, pretext
				an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"
		Category Tree: abstraction ╚attribute ╚quality ╚appearance; visual aspect ╚semblance; gloss; color; colour ╚guise, pretense, pretence, pretext
	3	pretension, pretense, pretence
				a false or unsupportable quality
		Category Tree: abstraction ╚attribute ╚quality ╚unnaturalness ╚artificiality ╚pretension, pretense, pretence
	4	pretense, pretence, make-believe
				imaginative intellectual play
		Category Tree: psychological feature ╚cognition; knowledge; noesis ╚process; cognitive process; mental process; operation; cognitive operation ╚basic cognitive process ╚representational process ╚imagination; imaging; imagery; mental imagery ╚pretense, pretence, make-believe
	5	pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling
				pretending with intention to deceive
		Category Tree: abstraction ╚relation ╚social relation ╚communication ╚message; content; subject matter; substance ╚statement ╚falsehood; falsity; untruth; false statement ╚misrepresentation; deceit; deception ╚pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling ╚hypocrisy; lip service ╚pretext; stalking-horse ╚bluff

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