Pretense /(?)/

Pre·tense

Pretense

n.
  1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension.
    Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power.
    I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford.
  2. The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Cæsar's death.
  3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
    Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince.
  4. Intention; design. [Obs.]
    A very pretense and purpose of unkindness.