n. 1. A specious allegation; a pretext: "the pretension that current political arrangements serve everyone's interests" (Steven Pinker). 2. a. A claim to something, such as a skill or profession: a writer's pretensions to journalistic detachment. b. The advancing of such a claim: tried to prevent his pretensions to the throne. 3. a. The unwarranted assumption that one is deserving of merit, or behavior indicative of such an assumption; pretentiousness: "the popular association of wine with snobbery and pretension" (Paul Lukacs). b. An instance of pretentiousness: "[He] was a likable, boyish man from a middle-class Southern background, though his aristocratic manner and pretensions suggested otherwise" (Mary V. Dearborn). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.