Entry Word: pretentious

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 self-consciously trying to present an appearance of grandeur or importance <the pretentious hosts served caviar at their party, even though they themselves dislike it>

Synonyms affected, grandiose, highfalutin, ostentatious, pompous

Related Words grandiloquent, high-sounding, sententious; arrogant, complacent, conceited, egoistic, egotistic (or egotistical), important, overweening, prideful, proud, self-assertive, self-conceited, self-important, self-satisfied, smug, uppity, vain, vainglorious; cavalier, disdainful, haughty, lordly, snobbish, snobby, stuck-up, supercilious, superior; confident, self-assured, self-confident, sure; boastful, braggart, bragging; aggressive, assertive, audacious, bold, brassy, cheeky, cocky, forward, impudent, insolent, rude; flashy, flaunting, gaudy, showy

Near Antonyms demure, homely, humble, lowly, meek, retiring, unassertive, unassuming; bashful, diffident, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, shy, timid

Antonyms modest, unpretentious

2 having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude <a pretentious author whose books only appeal to equally pretentious readers> — see arrogant