Word.ws English Dictionary

public pretender

public pretender noun: a public defender, viewed as inadequate.

Noun

public pretender (plural public pretenders)

  1. (derogatory, slang) A public defender, viewed as inadequate.
    • They tell me I'm due a fair trial, but they give me a public defender (or should I say public pretender?) that has four times his normal case load. So no matter how I feel or what I think, I'm forced to put all my faith in this public pretender and hope he hasn't sold me out too badly.1991 February 8, William Raspberry, quoting Mansuel Lee Union [inmate], “In another war, a front line tale from a despairing drug abuser”, in Milton Hoffman, editor, The Standard-Star, page 16
    • Felipe defiantly describes what he saw in jail: "There were young guys... with 700-1,000 pounds [of marijuana]. My case, by comparison, was peanuts. It is all about money in El Paso—if you have the money, you get off; if you have a good lawyer, you get off. It's all about your lawyer. The people...2009, Howard Campbell, quoting Felipe [pseudonym], Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 114–115

Examples of public pretender in a sentence

  • The people without money have to get a 'public pretender.'"2009, Howard Campbell, quoting Felipe [pseudonym], Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez, University...
  • You go ahead and play Russian roulette with a public pretender, you're gonna end up doing a decade in Los Lunas!2020 March 9, Gordon Smith, “Namaste” (between 08:48 and 08:55 from the start), in Gordon Smith, director, Better Call Saul, season 5...

Forms of public pretender

pluralpublic pretenders

Origin of public pretender

Blend of public defender + pretender, suggesting that the public defender is merely pretending to provide competent legal representation.

Questions about public pretender

What does public pretender mean?
Public pretender means a public defender, viewed as inadequate.
How do you use public pretender in a sentence?
The people without money have to get a 'public pretender.'"
What part of speech is public pretender?
Public pretender is a noun.
What is the plural of public pretender?
The plural of public pretender is public pretenders.

Words near public pretender in the dictionary

  1. public ownership
  2. public place
  3. public places
  4. public policies
  5. public policy
  6. public pretender
  7. public pretenders
  8. public private partnership
  9. public private partnerships
  10. public properties
  11. public property

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: public pretender (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-public pretender.wav.

Cite this entry: “public pretender.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/public_pretender. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.