pretence

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Etymology 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Translations

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• pretense (US)

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -ɛns

[edit] Etymology

From Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin prætensus (past participle of prætendere, præ- + tendere).

[edit] Noun

pretence (plural pretences)

1. (British, Canadian, Australian): An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 231b.

     That part of education that turned up in the latest phase of our argument, the cross-examination of the empty pretence of wisdom, is none other, we must declare, than the true-blooded kind of sophistry.

[edit] Translations