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Showing results for pretense. Search instead for pre-tense.
Definitions

pretense

[pri-tens, pree-tens] / prɪˈtɛns, ˈpri tɛns /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Pitino has made a smooth transition to college basketball’s wild new order, in which the pretense of amateurism has been abandoned and the transfer portal reshapes the roster every 12 months.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

This is the kind of art that would find a suitable home in a crypto king’s Miami mansion, and whose pretense of depth can’t conceal its wallowing in the shallows.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

By the end, he abandons any pretense of legal reasoning, quoting lines from the majority and waving them away as “misleading,” without any explanation.

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2025

His publicists invited her under the pretense of a business dinner with Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, then White surprised Dobrev instead.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 11, 2025

There was no pretense at hedges here, no pretense at separation or privacy, just low buildings side by side amid a scattering of stunted shrubs and cashew trees.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie




Vocabulary lists containing pretense


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