pretending or feigning; make-believe

My sleepiness was all pretense.

a false show of something

a pretense of friendship.

a piece of make-believe.

the act of pretending or alleging falsely.

a false allegation or justification

He excused himself from the lunch on a pretense of urgent business.

insincere or false profession

His pious words were mere pretense.

the putting forth of an unwarranted claim.

the claim itself.

any allegation or claim

to obtain money under false pretenses.

pretension (usually fol. by to )

destitute of any pretense to wit.

pretentiousness.

noun

honesty , openness , reality , truth

noun

act , acting , affectation , appearance , artifice , charade , claim , cloak , deceit , deception , display , dissimulation , double-dealing * , dumb act , evasion , excuse , fabrication , facade , fakery , faking , falsification , feigning , gag , guise , insincerity , invention , make-believe , mask , masquerade , misrepresentation , misstatement , ostentation , posing , posturing , pretentiousness , pretext , routine , ruse , schtick , semblance , sham * , shuffling , simulation , stall , stunt , subterfuge , trickery , veil , veneer , wile , disguise , dissemblance , sham , show , affectedness , air , mannerism , pose , pretension , color , coloring , cover , disguisement , face , false colors , front , gloss , window-dressing , title , assumption , brazenness , fake , false front , falsehood , feint , fiction , flam , fraud , guile , humbug , hypocrisy , imagined , occasion , smugness , trick