pretenders

Noun

pretender (plural pretenders)

1. (obsolete, rare) One who intends or purposes.
   • Pretensor, a pretender, he that purposeth.1591, Percivall, Sp. Dict.
2. One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
   • By how straight a Rule […] must that Pretender carry himselfe, who is to saile thorow the sea of this world, hoping for a fortune from another mans hand?1622, Mabbe, Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf 1.214
   1. (obsolete) One who aspires to the hand of a woman in marriage; a suitor, a wooer.
      • He, of the two pretenders, that best loves me.1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act I, scene v, page 1
   2. A claimant to a throne or the office of a ruler; originally in a neutral sense, but now always applied to a claimant who is held to have no just title.
      • If inteſtine Broils allarm the Hive, / (For two Pretenders oft for Empire ſtrive)1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 125
3. One who pretends or lays claim to something; one who makes a profession, show, or assertion, especially without adequate grounds, falsely, or with intent to deceive; a dissembler, deceiver, charlatan, hypocrite.
   • A pretender / To the art, I truely honor, and ſubſcribe / To your maieſties opinion.1631 (first performance), Philip Massinger, The Emperour of the East. A Tragæ-comœdie. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Iohn Waterson, published 1632, →OCLC, Act II, scene i
4. A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold.

   Synonyms:

   dissembler, flip-flopper, hypocrite, phony, bamboozler, bouncer, bullshitter, cheat, cheater, cogger

See all 7 meanings of pretender