4 uses
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Definition
a false appearance or action to help one pretend
- It suited Mary best to think Henrietta the one preferred on the very account of Charles Hayter, whose pretensions she wished to see put an end to.Chapter 9 (33% in)
- They were soon dining in company together at Mr Musgrove's, for the little boy's state could no longer supply his aunt with a pretence for absenting herself; and this was but the beginning of other dinings and other meetings.Chapter 8 (1% in)
- On going down to breakfast the next morning, she found there had just been a decent pretence on the lady's side of meaning to leave them.Chapter 16 (3% in)
- I could never doubt that you would be loved and sought by others, but I knew to a certainty that you had refused one man, at least, of better pretensions than myself; and I could not help often saying, 'Was this for me?'Chapter 23 (81% in)
There are no more uses of "pretense" in Persuasion.
Typical Usage
(best examples)