pretense

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.

For those of my generation who were fortunate enough to go to college, it did expose much of the pretense of higher education and made us admit as much.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

The question then becomes: Will fans still tune into college games when there’s no pretense the players are students?

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

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

Admittedly, much of social life consists of maintaining a thin pretense of normality.

From Salon • Sep. 1, 2025

She didn’t know how long she could stand this queer pretense that nothing had happened between them.

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo