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PRETENSION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A false or unsupportable quality
Synonyms:
pretence; pretense; pretension
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("pretension" is a kind of...):
artificiality (the quality of being produced by people and not occurring naturally)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth)
Synonyms:
largeness; pretension; pretentiousness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("pretension" is a kind of...):
unnaturalness (the quality of being unnatural or not based on natural principles)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pretension"):
ostentation (pretentious or showy or vulgar display)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The advancing of a claim
Example:
the town still puts forward pretensions as a famous resort
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("pretension" is a kind of...):
claim (an assertion of a right (as to money or property))
Derivation:
pretend (put forward a claim and assert right or possession of)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person plural) of the verb pretension
Context examples:
The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
To the Public, for the indulgent ear it has inclined to a plain tale with few pretensions.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He said it was impossible to conceal the disagreeable fact, that we were chiefly employed by solicitors; but he gave me to understand that they were an inferior race of men, universally looked down upon by all proctors of any pretensions.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I could never doubt that you would be loved and sought by others, but I knew to a certainty that you had refused one man, at least, of better pretensions than myself; and I could not help often saying, 'Was this for me?'
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Miss Tilney had a good figure, a pretty face, and a very agreeable countenance; and her air, though it had not all the decided pretension, the resolute stylishness of Miss Thorpe's, had more real elegance.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
He had frightened her a little about Mr. Elton; but when she considered that Mr. Knightley could not have observed him as she had done, neither with the interest, nor (she must be allowed to tell herself, in spite of Mr. Knightley's pretensions) with the skill of such an observer on such a question as herself, that he had spoken it hastily and in anger, she was able to believe, that he had rather said what he wished resentfully to be true, than what he knew any thing about.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The Colonel, though disclaiming all pretensions to connoisseurship, warmly admired the screens, as he would have done any thing painted by Miss Dashwood; and on the curiosity of the others being of course excited, they were handed round for general inspection.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I have seen in his face a far different expression from that which hardens it now while she is so vivaciously accosting him; but then it came of itself: it was not elicited by meretricious arts and calculated manoeuvres; and one had but to accept it—to answer what he asked without pretension, to address him when needful without grimace—and it increased and grew kinder and more genial, and warmed one like a fostering sunbeam.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Let it be, in justice, merely said of me, as of a gallant and eminent naval Hero, with whom I have no pretensions to cope, that what I have done, I did, in despite of mercenary and selfish objects, Much affected, but still intensely enjoying himself, Mr. Micawber folded up his letter, and handed it with a bow to my aunt, as something she might like to keep.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
