vain pretensions

He felt so much and so justly annoyed by Miss Dora's vain pretensions, that he forgot his anxiety about the secret conference in the summer-house.

From The Perpetual Curate by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

But until they are willing to throw aside their vain pretensions of being the salt of the earth and better than others, I am afraid little can be done.

From The Unknown Wrestler by H. A. (Hiram Alfred) Cody

In a treatise of eleven quarto pages, contained in his "Refutation of All Heresies," he riddled with merciless logic the vain pretensions of the Greek astrologers.

From The Popes and Science The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time by James J. Walsh

Beyond apparently imposing upon Sir Stafford Northcote, Disraeli himself never made any vain pretensions to be devoted to pursuits for which he did not care a rap.

From In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays by Augustine Birrell

I do not come to you with vain pretensions of a man who fancies he has won an honorable woman's heart because the priest has bid them love one another.

From Joseph II. and His Court by L. (Luise) Mühlbach