(British) An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.
noun
0
1
Advertisement
Origin of pretence
From Middle French pretensse, from Late Latin praetensus (prætensus) (past participle of praetendere (prætendere), prae- (præ-) + tendere).
From
Wiktionary
Pretence Sentence Examples
As a rule they make no real pretence of leading a religious life.
The following classification is simple and convenient; the list of alkaloids makes no pretence at being exhaustive.
He is convinced that virtue (where it is more than a mere pretence) is purely artificial; but not quite certain whether it is a useless trammel of appetites and passions that are advantageous to society, or a device creditable to the politicians who introduced it by playing upon the " pride and vanity " of the " silly creature man."
In this connexion it is worth pointing out that Garnet had not thought it his duty to disclose the treasonable intrigue with the king of Spain in 1602, though there was no pretence in this case that he was restricted by the seal of confession, and his inactivity now tells greatly in his disfavour; for, allowing even that he was bound by confessional secrecy from taking action on Greenway's information, he had still Catesby's earlier revelations to act upon.
Without a pretence of negotiation the French government declared on the 16th of November that the Scheldt was thenceforwards open.