Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun pretence
5 senses of pretence
Sense 1
pretension, pretense, pretence -- (a false or unsupportable quality)
=> artificiality -- (the quality of being produced by people and not occurring naturally)
Sense 2
guise, pretense, pretence, pretext -- (an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them")
=> semblance, gloss, color, colour -- (an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different color")
Sense 3
pretense, pretence, feigning, dissembling -- (pretending with intention to deceive)
=> misrepresentation, deceit, deception -- (a misleading falsehood)
Sense 4
pretense, pretence, make-believe -- (imaginative intellectual play)
=> imagination, imaging, imagery, mental imagery -- (the ability to form mental images of things or events; "he could still hear her in his imagination")
Sense 5
pretense, pretence, pretending, simulation, feigning -- (the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was only pretending")
=> deception, deceit, dissembling, dissimulation -- (the act of deceiving)