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

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.