Synonyms for pretence
pre·tence

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretence

   Synonyms:
   excuse, pretext, fabrication, simulation, cloak, mask, color, show, garb, plea, assumption, make believe, outside show, pretension

   Antonyms:
   verity, reality, truth, simplicity, candor, guilelessness, openness, veritableness, actuality, fact

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretension, pretense, pretencenoun

   a false or unsupportable quality

   Synonyms:
   largeness, pretending, pretext, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, pretentiousness, make-believe, guise, dissembling

2. guise, pretense, pretence, pretextnoun

   an artful or simulated semblance

   "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretext, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, guise, make-believe, stalking-horse, dissembling

3. pretense, pretence, feigning, dissemblingnoun

   pretending with intention to deceive

   Synonyms:
   dissimulation, pretending, deceit, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, make-believe, simulation, deception, dissembling

4. pretense, pretence, make-believenoun

   imaginative intellectual play

   Synonyms:
   pretend, pretending, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, make-believe, simulation, dissembling

5. pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigningnoun

   the act of giving a false appearance

   "his conformity was only pretending"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretext, pretension, pretense, guise, feigning, computer simulation, make-believe, simulation, model, dissembling

Matched Categories

1. • Artificiality
   • Deception
   • Imagination
   • Misrepresentation
   • Semblance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretencenoun

   Synonyms:
   [Written also Pretense.] show (to conceal a thing to be done), false appearance, mask, color, simulation, affectation, cant, PRETEXT, clap-trap

2. pretencenoun

   Synonyms:
   subterfuge, evasion, excuse

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "pretence":

   pretext, guise, fiction, excuse, usurpation

Suggested Resources

1. Pretence

   Pretence vs. Pretense -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Pretence and Pretense.

How to pronounce pretence?

How to say pretence in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use pretence in a sentence?

1. Havelock Ellis:

   Jealousy: that Dragon which slays love under the pretence of keeping it alive.

2. Aleister Crowley:

   The pious pretence that evil does not exist only makes it vague, enormous and menacing.

3. Havelock Ellis:

   Jealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretence of keeping it alive.

4. Thomas Jefferson:

   [I]f we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

5. Robert Frost:

   Friends make pretence of following to the grave but before one is in it, their minds are turned and making the best of their way back to life and living people and things they understand.