pretension
pretension noun: a claim or aspiration to a particular status or quality.
Noun
pretension (countable and uncountable, plural pretensions)
- A claim or aspiration to a particular status or quality.
- As a foreign stamp gazette it is nowhere. An article on Stamp Collecting, by J. E. Gray, “reprinted from one of his books,” and a catalogue of stamps constitute its sole attraction. We are surprised to find such sounding pretentions so poorly supported.1872, “Reviews of Postal Publications”, in The Stamp-Collector's Magazine, volume 10, page 110
- Pretentiousness.
Verb
pretension (third-person singular simple present pretensions, present participle pretensioning, simple past and past participle pretensioned)
- To apply tension to an object before some other event or process.
- To apply tension to reinforcing strands before concrete is poured in.
pretension meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
pretension in Hindi
- pretension, smug assertion
- दावा dāvā
pretension in Tamil
- பம்மாத்து, வெளிவேஷம், அலட்டல், அலப்பறை, பந்தா
pretension in Bengali
- মিথ্যা দাবি, জাঁকজমকপূর্ণ ভাব
pretension in Malayalam
- pretension; acting
- നടിപ്പ് naṭippŭ
More languagesFewer languages
- pretension in Kannada
- ಹಕ್ಕು ಹೂಡುವುದು
Examples of pretension in a sentence
- Their pretensions are on a par.
- The cleaning lady turns out to be a self-assured, modelly looking Ukrainian who destroys Trish’s fragile pretensions.
- His presence, after all, disturbs our arrogant pretensions and suitheistic fantasies.
Forms of pretension
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pretensions |
| alternative form (obsolete) | prætension |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pretensions |
| present participle | pretensioning |
| past participle | pretensioned |
| past | pretensioned |
Origin of pretension
From Middle English pretencioun, pretensioun, from Medieval Latin prētēnsiō.
From pre- + tension.
Words formed from pretension
Questions about pretension
- What does pretension mean?
- Pretension means a claim or aspiration to a particular status or quality.
- What is pretension in Hindi?
- Pretension in Hindi is दावा (dāvā). See Pretension meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pretension?
- Pretension can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of pretension?
- The plural of pretension is pretensions.
Words near pretension in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pretension (page history and authors); दावा (Hindi) (page history and authors); pretension (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pretension (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); നടിപ്പ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); pretension (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “pretension.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pretension. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.