| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,519,193,789 visitors served. |
|
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
pretension |
Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia | 0.04 sec. |
pretension Noun 1. (often pl) a false claim to merit or importance 2. the quality of being pretentious
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
pretension noun 1. affectation, hypocrisy, conceit, show, airs, vanity, snobbery, pomposity, self-importance, ostentation, pretentiousness, snobbishness, vainglory, showiness Translations pretension [prɪˈtɛnʃən] n (= claim) → prétention f; to have no pretensions to sth/to being sth → n'avoir aucune prétention à qch/à être qch How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in classic literature | |
|---|---|---|
Her behaviour, I confess, has been calculated to do away with such an idea; I have not detected the smallest impropriety in it--nothing of vanity, of pretension, of levity; and she is altogether so attractive that I should not wonder at his being delighted with her, had he known nothing of her previous to this personal acquaintance; but, against reason, against conviction, to be so well pleased with her, as I am sure he is, does really astonish me. "Oh, I've no pretension," I could laugh, "to being the only one. From all this it resulted that the false and selfish called her wise, the vulgar and debased termed her charitable, the insolent and unjust dubbed her amiable, the conscientious and benevolent generally at first accepted as valid her claim to be considered one of themselves; but ere long the plating of pretension wore off, the real material appeared below, and they laid her aside as a deception. |
| Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Translations |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|