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Pretence vs Feint - What's the difference?

pretence | feint | Synonyms |

In obsolete terms the difference between pretence and feint

is that pretence is intention; design while feint is feigned; counterfeit.

As nouns the difference between pretence and feint

is that pretence is an act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext while feint is a movement made to confuse the opponent, a dummy.

As a verb feint is

to make a feint, or mock attack.

As an adjective feint is

feigned; counterfeit.

pretence

English

Alternative forms

* pretense (American spelling) * (archaic)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (label) An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.
  • * 1819 , Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Coote, The History of England, from the Earliest Times to the Death of George the Second , Volume 3, p.115,
  • *:Great armaments were therefore put on foot in Moravia and Bohemia, while the elector of Saxony, under a pretence of military parade, drew together about sixteen thousand men, which were posted in a strong situation at Pima.
  • *
  • *:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.
  • *1995 , Charlie Lewis, Peter Mitchell, Children?s Early Understanding Of Mind: Origins And Development , p.281,
  • *:In pilot work we have used the method described in Experiment 2 on children?s memory for the content of their own false beliefs and pretence' and asked them to differentiate between belief and ' pretence .
  • *2005 , (Plato), Lesley Brown (translator), Sophist , .
  • *:That part of education that turned up in the latest phase of our argument, the cross-examination of the empty pretence of wisdom, is none other, we must declare, than the true-blooded kind of sophistry.
  • (label) Intention; design.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:A very pretence and purpose of unkindness.

    • feint

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a feint, or mock attack.
    • (to make a counterfeit move to confuse an opponent) * Chinese: *: Mandarin: * Finnish: (t) (trans-mid) * Maori: (t), (t), (t), * Russian: * Swedish: (trans-bottom)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Feigned; counterfeit.
  • * John Locke
    • Dressed up into any feint appearance of it.
  • (fencing, boxing, war) (of an attack) directed toward a different part from the intended strike

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A movement made to confuse the opponent, a dummy
  • That which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; a pretense; a stratagem; a fetch.
  • * Spectator
    • Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off.
  • (fencing, boxing, war) An offensive movement resembling an attack in all but its continuance
  • The narrowest rule used in the production of lined writing paper (C19: Variant of FAINT)