Pretence vs Pretend - What's the difference?
pretence | pretend |
(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,
*: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 ,
*: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.
To claim, allege, especially when falsely or as a form of deliberate deception.
* 1749 , (Henry Fielding), Tom Jones , XVIII.23:
*:"After what past at Upton, so soon to engage in a new amour with another woman, while I fancied, and you pretended , your heart was bleeding for me!"
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=5 * 2009 , "Vanity publishing", The Economist , 13 Apr 2009:
To feign, affect (a state, quality, etc.).
* Milton
* 2007 , The Guardian , 29 Oct 2007:
To lay claim (to) (an ability, status, advantage, etc.). (originally used without to )
* Dryden
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.25:
To make oneself appear (to) do or be doing something; to engage in make-believe.
* 1814 , (Jane Austen), Mansfield Park :
*:"The truth is, Ma'am," said Mrs. Grant, pretending to whisper across the table to Mrs. Norris, "that Dr. Grant hardly knows what the natural taste of our apricot is [...]."
* 2003 , Duncan Campbell, The Guardian , 23 Jan 2003:
(obsolete) To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
* Milton
(obsolete) To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To hold before one; to extend.
*1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.11:
*:Pastorella […] Was by the Captaine all this while defended, / Who, minding more her safety then himselfe, / His target alwayes over her pretended […].
As a noun pretence
is (label) an act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.As a verb pretend is
.pretence
English
Alternative forms
* pretense (American spelling) * (archaic)Noun
(en noun)p.115,
p.281,
pretend
English
Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’}}
- I have nothing but contempt for people who hire ghost-writers. But at least most faux authors have the decency to pretend that they are sweating blood over "their" book.
- This let him know, / Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend / Surprisal.
- Gap and other clothes manufacturers should stop using small subcontractors because they are difficult to control. Instead, they should open up their own fully-owned production facilities so that they cannot pretend ignorance when abuses are committed.
- Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend .
- People observed the diversity of schools and the acerbity of their disputes, and decided that all alike were pretending to knowledge which was in fact unattainable.
- Luster claimed that the women had consented to sex and were only pretending to be asleep.
- Lest that too heavenly form, pretended / To hellish falsehood, snare them.
- Such as shall pretend / Malicious practices against his state.