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What is the difference between pretence and pretense?

pretence | pretense |

Pretense is a alternative form of pretence.



As nouns the difference between pretence and pretense

is that pretence is an act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext while pretense is a false or hypocritical profession, as, under pretense of friendliness.

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.
  • pretense

    English

    Alternative forms

    * pretence (Only correct spelling in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Commonwealth countries, and historical use in the United States) * (archaic)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US) A false or hypocritical profession, as, under pretense of friendliness.
  • Intention or purpose not real but professed.
  • with only a pretense of accuracy
  • An unsupported claim made or implied.
  • An insincere attempt to reach a specific condition or quality.
  • Synonyms

    * affectation denotes deception for the sake of escape from punishment or an awkward situation * false pretense * fiction * imitation * pretext * sham * subterfuge * See also

    Anagrams

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