How to use pretense in a sentence
19 example sentences · noun
Pretense means the action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation. Example: “He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.”
Examples of pretense by meaning
nounThe action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.
- He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.
- "Lady Little", the title that she used, was just a pretense.
- She appeared to weep uncontrollably, but it was all pretense.
nounAffectation or ostentation of manner.
- She was a plain-speaking woman without a hint of pretense.
nounIntention or purpose not real but professed.
- with only a pretense of accuracy
nounAn unsupported claim made or implied.
- They wished to demask hidden metaphysics, to demask the false pretenses of sentences purportively descriptive but de facto metaphysical or evaluative.1968, Gerard Radnitzky · · Snippet view, Contemporary Schools of Metascience, page 114
More sentences with pretense
- She enrolled at the university under false pretenses, giving an invented birth date and lying about her qualifications.From the entry false pretense
- But his pretense to whalelore didn't even have an aficionado's sincerity.1973, John Wood Campbell, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 92. From the entry whalelore
- Let’s have no more pretense of that kind.2016, Rachel Neumeier, The Mountain of Kept Memory, Saga Press, →ISBN. From the entry magistra
- Many among them made no pretense of seeking gainful work.2008, Stanley J. Schachter, Laugh for God's Sake: Where Jewish Humor and Jewish Ethics Meet. From the entry shnor
- Millet is a cheap grain, signifying plainness and nonadornment, the simplicity of experience in itself, without pretense and artificial rationalization.2001, Thomas F. Cleary, Classics of Buddhism and Zen, page 545. From the entry nonadornment
- By skeptically observing whites' pretense to paternalism and slaves' pretense to Samboism, the slaveholder became mistrustful of everyone's performances.1994, William Freehling, The Reintegration of American History: Slavery and the Civil War. From the entry skeptically
- Preston leaves by himself under the pretense of grabbing coffee, needing to get out for a few minutes, to breathe air, to be unwatched.2021, A. E. Osworth, chapter 20, in We Are Watching Eliza Bright, →ISBN. From the entry Instagram
- As to the $12 billion State share, there is not even the pretense of an attempt at congressional oversight, Federal control, or standards of performance.1972 July 27, Andrew J[ohn] Biemiller, witness, “Statement of Andrew J. Biemiller, Director, Department of Legislation, American…. From the entry no strings attached
- Another $1.72 billion represents the amount FTX raised from investors on false pretenses, and $1.3 billion accounts for the money that Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency trading firm owed lenders, prosecutors said.2024 March 29, Eva Rothenberg, “Sam Bankman-Fried has to repay $11 billion. How can he possibly do that?”, in CNN Business. From the entry FTX
- Even though Mother grated on my last nerve with her phony pretense, I had to give her credit, she knew how to throw a hellafied party.2010, Trice Hickman, Playing the Hand You're Dealt: A Novel, Washington, D.C.: Platinum Books, Inc., →ISBN, page 209. From the entry hellified
- Cho was accusing him of luring him there under false pretenses; she said that he had promised her a hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog cards if she showed up.2003, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Scholastic Press, page 462. From the entry bauble
- At a lot of restaurants in the past, there was a lot of this pretense, people speaking to impress their guests rather than to inform them.1995, Wine & Spirits, volume 14, page 42. From the entry winese
- I can be rather unladilike in some of my responses and there is a point at which I willingly give up the pretense of civility and simply attack.1995 June 2, Babs Woods, “cook upset”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet), archived from the original on 02 Jun 2025. From the entry unladilike
Meaning of pretense
- noun The action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.
- noun Affectation or ostentation of manner.
- noun Intention or purpose not real but professed.
Questions about pretense in a sentence
- How do you use pretense in a sentence?
- Pretense is used as a noun. For example: “He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.”
- What is a short sentence with pretense?
- “with only a pretense of accuracy”
- What does pretense mean?
- Pretense means the action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pretense (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use pretense in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pretense. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.