Synonyms for pretension
prɪˈtɛn ʃənpre·ten·sion

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretension

   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, pretense, pretext, ruse, seeming, semblance, show, simulation, subterfuge, trick, wile

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

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretension, pretense, pretencenoun

   a false or unsupportable quality

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

2. pretensionnoun

   the advancing of a claim

   "his pretension to the crown"; "the town still puts forward pretensions as a famous resort"

   Synonyms:
   pretentiousness, largeness, pretense, pretence

3. pretentiousness, pretension, largenessnoun

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

   Synonyms:
   breadth, puffiness, comprehensiveness, pretence, pomposity, extensiveness, pretense, largeness, pretentiousness, ostentation, inflation, splashiness, bigness, ostentatiousness, pompousness

Matched Categories

1. • Artificiality
   • Claim
   • Unnaturalness

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretensionnoun

   Synonyms:
   claim, demand

2. pretensionnoun

   Synonyms:
   show, assumption, profession, PRETENCE, make-believe

3. pretensionnoun

   Synonyms:
   conceit, pretentiousness, pertness, priggery

How to pronounce pretension?

How to say pretension in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency