Synonyms for pretence
pre·tence

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretence

   Synonyms:
   excuse, pretext, fabrication, simulation, cloak, mask, color, show, garb, plea, assumption, make believe, outside show, pretension

   Antonyms:
   verity, reality, truth, simplicity, candor, guilelessness, openness, veritableness, actuality, fact

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretension, pretense, pretencenoun

   a false or unsupportable quality

   Synonyms:
   largeness, pretending, pretext, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, pretentiousness, make-believe, guise, dissembling

2. guise, pretense, pretence, pretextnoun

   an artful or simulated semblance

   "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretext, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, guise, make-believe, stalking-horse, dissembling

3. pretense, pretence, feigning, dissemblingnoun

   pretending with intention to deceive

   Synonyms:
   dissimulation, pretending, deceit, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, make-believe, simulation, deception, dissembling

4. pretense, pretence, make-believenoun

   imaginative intellectual play

   Synonyms:
   pretend, pretending, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, make-believe, simulation, dissembling

5. pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigningnoun

   the act of giving a false appearance

   "his conformity was only pretending"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, computer simulation, make-believe, simulation, model, dissembling

Matched Categories

1. • Artificiality
   • Deception
   • Imagination
   • Misrepresentation
   • Semblance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretencenoun

   Synonyms:
   [Written also Pretense.] show (to conceal a thing to be done), false appearance, mask, color, simulation, affectation, cant, PRETEXT, clap-trap

2. pretencenoun

   Synonyms:
   subterfuge, evasion, excuse

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "pretence":

   pretext, guise, fiction, excuse, usurpation

Suggested Resources

1. Pretence

   Pretence vs. Pretense -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Pretence and Pretense.

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How to use pretence in a sentence?

1. Hazlitt:

   A man who does not endeavour to seem more than he is will generally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large deductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand against them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a certain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention to fashion is necessary.

2. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness:

   The conquest of the earth... is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only... not a sentimental pretence but an idea.

3. Aleister Crowley:

   The pious pretence that evil does not exist only makes it vague, enormous and menacing.

4. Jonathan Grant:

   Everyone is operating under the pretence that editing and streamlining for long enough will actually produce a coherent and short text with clearly defined alternatives for ministers to review.

5. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban:

   This destabilizes European democracies, we need to start the debate about the future of our continent honestly, without the muzzle of' political correctness', without pretence, talking straight.