Synonyms for pretenseprɪˈtɛns, ˈpri tɛns

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Princeton's WordNet

  1. pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning(noun)

    the act of giving a false appearance

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

  2. pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling(noun)

    pretending with intention to deceive

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

  3. pretense, pretence, make-believe(noun)

    imaginative intellectual play

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

  4. pretension, pretense, pretence(noun)

    a false or unsupportable quality

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

  5. guise, pretense, pretence, pretext(noun)

    an artful or simulated semblance

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

English Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald

  1. pretense

    A pretense, in the unfavorable, which is also the usual sense, is something advanced or displayed for the purpose of concealing the reality. A person makes a pretense of something for the credit or advantage to be gained by it; he makes what is allowed or approved a pretext for doing what would be opposed or condemned; a tricky schoolboy makes a pretense of doing an errand which he does not do, or he makes the actual doing of an errand a pretext for playing truant. A ruse is something (especially something slight or petty) employed to blind or deceive so as to mask an ulterior design, and enable a person to gain some end that he would not be allowed to approach directly. A pretension is a claim that is or may be contested; the word is now commonly used in an unfavorable sense. Compare ARTIFICE; HYPOCRISY.

    Synonyms:
    affectation, air, assumption, cloak, color, disguise, dissimulation, excuse, mask, pretension, pretext, ruse, seeming, semblance, show, simulation, subterfuge, trick, wile

    Antonyms:
    actuality, candor, fact, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, ingenuousness, openness, reality, simplicity, sincerity, truth

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