- 1假裝、藉口、做樣子；美式拼法（英式是 pretence）
Pretense is the American spelling of pretence. British books almost always write pretence, with a c. American books write pretense, with an s. It is the same word, not a second meaning.
A pretense is a false show. You put on a pretense when you act as if something is true, but it is not: a feeling you do not really have, a kind of life you do not really live, or a reason that is not the real one. People often say “under the pretense of…” when someone uses a polite or official-sounding reason to hide what they are really doing.
Though actually, in everyday American talk many people do not reach for this noun first. They say pretending, or putting on an act. Pretense sounds a little more like a book — not stiff, but not the first word a child uses either. You will still meet it in news, novels, and careful speech.
It sits next to pretext, and mix them. A pretext is specifically a made-up reason. A pretense can be that, but it can also be a whole false manner — not only the reason, but the acting itself.
組成From Latin prae- (“before”) + tendō (“to stretch”), by way of French pretensse and Late Latin praetēnsus, the past form of praetendō (“to pretend”). The old picture is stretching something out in front — a claim held up before the truth. Same root as pretend.
同家族的字
- pretendthe everyday verb from the same Latin praetendō (“to stretch forward, to claim”)
- pretensionthe related noun for a claim to importance, from the same Latin past form praetēnsus
- pretentiousthe adjective for putting on a show of being grander or cleverer than you are; same family, though the spelling keeps a t from French
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
pretensenoun/ˈpɹiːtɛns/
- 1
The action of pretending; false or simulated show or appearance; false or hypocritical assertion or representation.
- He visited the king under the pretense of friendliness.
- "Lady Little", the title that she used, was just a pretense.
- 2
Affectation or ostentation of manner.
- She was a plain-speaking woman without a hint of pretense.
- 3
Intention or purpose not real but professed.
- with only a pretense of accuracy
- 4
An unsupported claim made or implied.
- He was gentlemanly, steady, tractable, with a thorough knowledge of his duties; and in time, when yet very young, he became chief mate of a fine ship, without ever having been tested by those events of the sea that show in the light of day the inner worth of a man, the edge of his temper, and the fibre of his stuff; that reveal the quality of his resistance and the secret truth of his pretences, not only to others but also to himself.
- They wished to demask hidden metaphysics, to demask the false pretenses of sentences purportively descriptive but de facto metaphysical or evaluative.
- 5
An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.
- 6
obsoleteIntention; design.
- A very pretence and purpose of unkindness.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。