| / English Dictionary |
PRETENDER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: pretender
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives
Synonyms:
dissembler; dissimulator; hypocrite; phoney; phony; pretender
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pretender" is a kind of...):
beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pretender"):
charmer; smoothie; smoothy; sweet talker (someone with an assured and ingratiating manner)
Tartufe; Tartuffe (a hypocrite who pretends to religious piety (after the protagonist in a play by Moliere))
whited sepulcher; whited sepulchre (a person who is inwardly evil but outwardly professes to be virtuous)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person who makes deceitful pretenses
Synonyms:
fake; faker; fraud; imposter; impostor; pretender; pseud; pseudo; role player; sham; shammer
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("pretender" is a kind of...):
beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pretender"):
name dropper (someone who pretends that famous people are his/her friends)
ringer (a contestant entered in a competition under false pretenses)
Derivation:
pretend (make believe with the intent to deceive)
pretend (behave unnaturally or affectedly)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A claimant to the throne or to the office of ruler (usually without just title)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("Pretender" is a kind of...):
claimant (someone who claims a benefit or right or title)
Derivation:
pretend (put forward a claim and assert right or possession of)
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