pretense

Forms

• pretence (UK)

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pretense, also pretence,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pretensse, also pretense,^[3][4][5] from Medieval Latin *praetēnsa,^[6][7][8] the noun use of the feminine of Late Latin praetēnsus,^[7][6] a later form of Latin praetentus,^[3][7] the past participle of praetendō (“to stretch in front, put forward; allege”),^[3][7] from prae- and tendō (“to stretch”).^[7] Etymonline and the Middle English Dictionary instead start from the Medieval Latin noun of action pretensio.^[3][2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged call the immediate source Middle French.^[9][8] French prétense is its modern descendant.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An assertion of a claim: before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book, "colour of pretense".^[2][9] The 1989 edition of the OED has 1425,^[10] the year of a Paston letter about a claim to a priory.^[2] The OED records an adjective pretense, pretended or feigned, earlier still, from 1395.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English Dictionary already records the noun for a legal claim, an allegation, a stated reason, feigning, a display, a disguise and a purpose,^[2] and Etymonline gives a similar range from the early 15th century.^[3] The 1989 edition of the OED has later first dates for the claim to merit and for ostentation (1526), for a pretext (1538), for a false profession (1545) and for an alleged ground of action (1560).^[10] Johnson (1755) has a false argument, the showing of what is not real and a claim "true or false".^[12] The sense of make-believe, as in children's play, is the latest, from 1863.^[10] An adjective pretense, pretended or sham, is recorded from 1395 to 1599,^[11] and a verb from 1548 to 1691,^[11] which Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes as a back-formation from pretensed.^[8]

Timeline

• 1395 – adjective, pretended, feigned (obsolete by 1599).^[11]
• before 1420 – noun, an assertion of a claim or title.^[2][9]
• 1526 – a claim to merit or worth; ostentation.^[10]
• 1538 – a false profession of purpose; a pretext.^[10]
• 1548 – verb, to give a feigned appearance to, or to offer (obsolete by 1691).^[11]
• 1562 – in heraldry, in pretence, borne on an inescutcheon to show a claim.^[10]
• 1608 – an assertion or allegation, now usually a false one.^[10]
• 1863 – pretending, as in children's play.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of pretending; make-believe: The children kept up the pretense of being pirates.^[13][6][5]
2. A false show of something: a pretense of concern.^[13][6][5]
3. A false reason or excuse; a pretext: He left early on the pretense of a morning meeting.^[13][6][5]
4. A claim to a right, title or distinction, especially a false one.^[13][8][5]
5. Showy display; affectation or pretentiousness.^[13][8][5]
6. (heraldry) In in pretence and escutcheon of pretence, the bearing of a shield to show a claim.^[10][5]
7. (obsolete) A professed aim or purpose.^[10][5]

Verb

1. (obsolete, 1548–1691) To allege or profess, especially falsely; to pretend.^[11][8]

Adjective

1. (obsolete, 1395–1599) Pretended; feigned or sham.^[11][2]

Word family

• pretenseful
• pretenseless

Related words

• pretend
• pretender
• pretension
• pretentious
• tend

Usage notes

Pretence is the British spelling and pretense the American.^[13][14][6] Dictionary.com gives both /prɪˈtɛns/ and /ˈpritɛns/.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press