pretension
Other forms: pretensions
Pretension is what you're guilty of when you boorishly try to impress other people with how important or clever you are.
When you speak with pretension, you're boastful and you puff yourself up as someone very important or of great worth. If you have literary pretensions, you most likely think you're a great writer, but you most likely are not. As you might imagine, this word has the same Latin roots as pretend and pretense. A pretension can also be the advancing of a claim.
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the advancing of a claim“his pretension to the crown”“the town still puts forward pretensions as a famous resort”type of:claiman assertion of a right (as to money or property)
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a false or unsupportable qualitytype of:artificialitythe quality of being produced by people and not occurring naturally
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the quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)synonyms: largeness, pretentiousnesstypes:ostentationpretentious or showy or vulgar displaytype of:unnaturalnessthe quality of being unnatural or not based on natural principles
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Vocabulary lists containing pretension
In this pamphlet, Paine urges the American colonists to fight for independence from Great Britain and form a new government. Read the full text here.
In this play inspired by the Greek myth of Pygmalion, Professor Henry Higgins bets that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower seller, into a cultured and genteel lady.
This award-winning book explores the true story of two teens whose lives were forever changed after a violent encounter on a city bus.