Associations to the word «Pretence»

Wiktionary

PRETENCE, noun. (British spelling) An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.
PRETENCE, noun. (obsolete) Intention; design.

Dictionary definition

PRETENCE, noun. A false or unsupportable quality.
PRETENCE, noun. An artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them".
PRETENCE, noun. Pretending with intention to deceive.
PRETENCE, noun. Imaginative intellectual play.
PRETENCE, noun. The act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending".

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats