pretence

pretence
    n 1: a false or unsupportable quality [syn: {pretension},
         {pretense}, {pretence}]
    2: an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of
       friendship he betrayed them" [syn: {guise}, {pretense},
       {pretence}, {pretext}]
    3: pretending with intention to deceive [syn: {pretense},
       {pretence}, {feigning}, {dissembling}]
    4: imaginative intellectual play [syn: {pretense}, {pretence},
       {make-believe}]
    5: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was
       only pretending" [syn: {pretense}, {pretence}, {pretending},
       {simulation}, {feigning}]
    

Pretence \Pre*tence"\, n., Pretenceful \Pre*tence"ful\, a.,
Pretenceless \Pre*tence"*less\, a.
   See {Pretense}, {Pretenseful}, {Pretenseless}.
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Pretense \Pre*tense"\, Pretence \Pre*tence\, n. [LL. praetensus,
   for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See {Pretend}, and
   cf. {Tension}.]
   1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption;
      pretension. --Spenser.
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            Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right
            of solely inheriting property or power. --Locke.
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            I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to
            the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. --Evelyn.
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   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 C[ae]sar's death.
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   3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical
      show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
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            Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense
            Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. Intention; design. [Obs.]
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            A very pretense and purpose of unkindness. --Shak.
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   Note: See the {Note} under {Offense}.
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   Syn: Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse.

   Usage: {Pretense}, {Pretext}. A pretense is something held
          out as real when it is not so, thus falsifying the
          truth. A pretext is something woven up in order to
          cover or conceal one's true motives, feelings, or
          reasons. Pretext is often, but not always, used in a
          bad sense.
          [1913 Webster]
    

46 Moby Thesaurus words for "pretence":
      airs, appearance, artifice, blind, camouflage, cloak, cover,
      cover-up, deception, disguise, display, dodge, excuse, fable,
      fabrication, facade, fairy tale, fakery, faking, falsification,
      feigning, fiction, figment, front, guise, hoax, humbug, humbuggery,
      hypocrisy, impression, invention, make-believe, mask, masquerade,
      ostentation, pose, posturing, pretending, pretension,
      pretentiousness, pretext, ruse, sham, show, story, veil