All 7 Uses of
pretense
in
Pride and Prejudice
- All were struck with the stranger's air, all wondered who he could be; and Kitty and Lydia, determined if possible to find out, led the way across the street, under pretense of wanting something in an opposite shop, and fortunately had just gained the pavement when the two gentlemen, turning back, had reached the same spot.†
Chpt 15
- I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man.†
Chpt 19 *
- You will not, I hope, consider me as showing any disrespect to your family, my dear madam, by thus withdrawing my pretensions to your daughter's favour, without having paid yourself and Mr. Bennet the compliment of requesting you to interpose your authority in my behalf.†
Chpt 20
- In town I believe he chiefly lived, but his studying the law was a mere pretence, and being now free from all restraint, his life was a life of idleness and dissipation.†
Chpt 35
- But when she read and re-read with the closest attention, the particulars immediately following of Wickham's resigning all pretensions to the living, of his receiving in lieu so considerable a sum as three thousand pounds, again was she forced to hesitate.†
Chpt 36
- The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune.†
Chpt 56
- You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.†
Chpt 58
Definition:
-
(pretense) a false appearance or action to help one pretendeditor's notes: This is sometimes seen in the expression "false pretense" or "false pretenses" which is just emphasizing that behavior or actions do not reflect the true situation.