| Pretence 1. (a.) Alt. of Pretenceless. 2. (n.) The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. 3. (n.) The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Caesar's death. 4. (n.) That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint. 5. (n.) Intention; design. Thesaurus Entries airs, appearance, artifice, blind, camouflage, cloak, cover, cover-up, deception, disguise, display, dodge, excuse, fable, fabrication, facade, fairy tale, fakery, faking, falsification, feigning, fiction, figment, front, guise, hoax, humbug, humbuggery, hypocrisy, impression, invention, make-believe, mask, masquerade, ostentation, pose, posturing, pretending, pretension, pretentiousness, pretext, ruse, sham, show, story, veil |