Antonyms for pretension


Grammar : Noun
Spell : pri-ten-shuh n
Phonetic Transcription : prɪˈtɛn ʃən


Definition of pretension

Origin :
  • mid-15c., "assertion, allegation; objection; intention; signification," from Medieval Latin pretensionem (nominative praetensio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin praetendere "stretch in front, put forward, allege" (see pretend (v.)). Meaning "unproven claim" is from c.1600. Sense of "ostentation" is from 1727.
  • noun airs, snobbishness
  • noun false claim, assertion of importance
Example sentences :
  • To folly, to pretension, to presumption, he showed but slight forbearance.
  • Extract from : « Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • Where the pretension is higher, the test may justly be more severe.
  • Extract from : « The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 » by Various
  • The Utopian ideas which I have expressed have in no way the pretension to be new.
  • Extract from : « The Sexual Question » by August Forel
  • I speak generally, and not with any pretension to exactness.
  • Extract from : « The Republic » by Plato
  • He has pretension; he wishes and attempts things beyond his force.
  • Extract from : « Essays, Second Series » by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • I have no pretension to delay my reader by any details of the trial itself.
  • Extract from : « Davenport Dunn, Volume 2 (of 2) » by Charles James Lever
  • I shall be able to feed them; but how to lodge them with any pretension to comfort is more than I can see.'
  • Extract from : « Lord Kilgobbin » by Charles Lever
  • You don't set up the pretension of dictating to me what I am to do with what's my own.
  • Extract from : « A Set of Six » by Joseph Conrad
  • You don't set up the pretension of dictating to me what I am to do with what is my own.
  • Extract from : « The Point Of Honor » by Joseph Conrad
  • She reveres in my person a genius to which I make no pretension.
  • Extract from : « The Romance Of Giovanni Calvotti » by David Christie Murray

Synonyms for pretension

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019