pretentious
English
Alternative forms
- prætentious (rare, pedantic or (esp. self-referentially) humorous)
Etymology
From French prétentieux, from prétention, from Latin praetēnsus (“false or hypocritical profession”), past participle of praetendō.
Note that pretentious is spelled with a ‘t’, unlike related pretense, pretension. This is due to the French spelling: *-sious does not occur as an English suffix, though -sion and -tion both do.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /pɹɪˈtɛnʃəs/[1]
Adjective
pretentious (comparative more pretentious, superlative most pretentious)
- Intended to impress others; ostentatious.
- Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.
- Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.
- Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.
Synonyms
- poseur
- See also Thesaurus:arrogant
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction
|
intended to impress others
|
References
- ^ The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]
- “pretentious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “pretentious”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “pretentious”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.