| / English Dictionary |
PRETENTIOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Intended to attract notice and impress others
Example:
an ostentatious sable coat
Synonyms:
ostentatious; pretentious
Classified under:
Similar:
flaunty (inclined to flaunt)
flamboyant; showy; splashy (marked by ostentation but often tasteless)
Derivation:
pretentiousness (lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction
Example:
a pretentious scholarly edition
Classified under:
Similar:
arty (showily imitative of art or artists)
artsy-craftsy; arty-crafty (pretentiously artistic; cloyingly charming)
grandiloquent; overblown; pompous; pontifical; portentous (puffed up with vanity)
grandiose; hifalutin; highfalutin; highfaluting; hoity-toity; la-di-da (affectedly genteel)
high-flown; high-sounding; inflated (pretentious (especially with regard to language or ideals))
jumped-up ((British informal) upstart)
nouveau-riche; parvenu; parvenue; upstart (characteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this new position)
sententious (abounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing)
sesquipedalian (given to the overuse of long words)
Also:
tasteless (lacking aesthetic or social taste)
Antonym:
unpretentious (lacking pretension or affectation)
Derivation:
pretense (pretending with intention to deceive)
pretentiousness (the quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth))
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of a display) tawdry or vulgar
Synonyms:
ostentatious; pretentious
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tasteless (lacking aesthetic or social taste)
Derivation:
pretentiousness (lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity)
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