variants
or pretences
1
as in facades
a display of emotion or behavior that is insincere or intended to deceive
her display of bravado was just a pretense
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rights
an entitlement to something
this book on gardening makes no pretense at completeness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of pretenses
According to evidence presented at trial, Zhu and his associates imported cheap COVID-19 tests from China, then repackaged and resold them under false pretenses.
—
Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 6 May 2026
Maybe Thalia had come to Gilead under false pretenses and gotten caught.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2026
Marks was also charged with obtaining property under false pretenses and misdemeanor larceny.
—Charlotte Observer, 6 May 2026
Butts is charged with one count of false pretenses ($100,000 or more), three counts of false pretenses ($50,000 or more but less than $100,000), two counts of false pretenses ($20,000 or more but less than $50,000), 12 counts of identity theft, and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
—Joseph Buczek, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Authorities said the gun had been purchased under false pretenses in Indiana.
—Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
The 2025 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act, expands on a 2016 law, signed by President Barack Obama, that permits victims and descendants of victims of the Holocaust to lay legal claim to works of art looted by the Nazis or sold to the Nazis under false pretenses.
—Jackie Hajdenberg, Sun Sentinel, 20 Apr. 2026
While some of the women who came here willingly embraced ISIS ideology and passed it on to their children, many others say they were trafficked or lured to the region through ignorance or under false pretenses.
—Jane Arraf, NPR, 11 Apr. 2026
And Trump, of course, is not—despite his pretenses otherwise—the sole decider here.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 6 May 2026
Maybe Thalia had come to Gilead under false pretenses and gotten caught.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2026
Marks was also charged with obtaining property under false pretenses and misdemeanor larceny.
—Charlotte Observer, 6 May 2026
Butts is charged with one count of false pretenses ($100,000 or more), three counts of false pretenses ($50,000 or more but less than $100,000), two counts of false pretenses ($20,000 or more but less than $50,000), 12 counts of identity theft, and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
—Joseph Buczek, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Authorities said the gun had been purchased under false pretenses in Indiana.
—Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
The 2025 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act, expands on a 2016 law, signed by President Barack Obama, that permits victims and descendants of victims of the Holocaust to lay legal claim to works of art looted by the Nazis or sold to the Nazis under false pretenses.
—Jackie Hajdenberg, Sun Sentinel, 20 Apr. 2026
While some of the women who came here willingly embraced ISIS ideology and passed it on to their children, many others say they were trafficked or lured to the region through ignorance or under false pretenses.
—Jane Arraf, NPR, 11 Apr. 2026
And Trump, of course, is not—despite his pretenses otherwise—the sole decider here.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretenses
Noun
-
Historic preservation is often dismissed as nostalgia, the hobby of people who prefer old facades to modern needs.—
Israel Melendez Ayala,
Time,
6 May 2026
-
But the school occupies its own campus, Schwarzman College, modeled on the individual venues at Harvard and Oxford, boasting their own historic facades, where students live and dine.—
Shawn Tully,
Fortune,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
At the building’s peak, five-foot-tall concrete letters spell out a hundred and three words of a speech delivered by Obama in Selma, Alabama, in 2015, on the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when John Lewis and other civil-rights activists were beaten at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.—
Peter Slevin,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
The defense said Allen's presence on suicide precautions limits his ability to mount a defense and deprives him of his due process rights.—
Garrett Downs,
CNBC,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
These projects reveal the evil lurking underneath the guises of killers who were so often hiding in plain sight.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Apr. 2026
-
By the time my story about him was published in the November 2023 issue of Vanity Fair, Aryeh Dodelson, and all of his guises, had disappeared from the face of the earth.—
Nate Freeman,
Vanity Fair,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
To go with his ancestral claims, Church, who had been drawing obsessively since early childhood, also inherited an artistic mantle.—
Sebastian Smee,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
Moscow did not immediately acknowledge Zelenskyy's claims regarding either strike.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
Babies who don’t get the vitamin K shot, research shows, are 81 times more likely than those who do to develop late vitamin K deficiency bleeding, where in many cases oxygen can’t reach their brains and blood pools around their skulls.—
Lee Hutchinson,
ArsTechnica,
6 May 2026
-
The designer regularly curates new collections and fresh apparel and is widely known for her signature splits at the end of her runway shows.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
6 May 2026
Noun
-
Spiegelman uses the term micro-looting, dressing up petty theft in political pretensions.—
Thomas Chatterton Williams,
The Atlantic,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Traditionally, Oscars hosts have been at their best when puncturing the pretensions of the stars in attendance, but for the most part, host Conan O’Brien bought into their sense of their own righteousness.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Check back on Deadline for Hawley’s postmortem interview, which will run immediately after the episode airs on the East Coast.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
3 May 2026
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Where to Watch Kentucky Derby 2026 The horse racing event (and pre-race coverage) airs on NBC, which can be streamed live via DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling or Hulu + Live TV.—
Erin Lassner,
HollywoodReporter,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
His use of dramatic lighting and the poses of the people in the painting have captured audiences’ attention for nearly four centuries.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Doctors recommend starting a yoga practice slowly, ideally with an instructor, and modifying poses if needed.—
Tom Gavin,
EverydayHealth.com,
22 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pretenses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretenses. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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