All 6 Uses of
pretense
in
The Count of Monte Cristo
- Under pretence of being fatigued, Dantes asked to take the helm; the steersman, glad to be relieved, looked at the captain, and the latter by a sign indicated that he might abandon it to his new comrade.†
Chpt 22-23unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use pretense.
- Julie made a pretence to feel for the key.†
Chpt 29-30 *
- You know that my means are limited, and that I am what would be designated a man of moderate pretensions.†
Chpt 57-58pretensions = appearances or actions to help one pretend
- I would ask for six months' in advance, under pretence of being able to purchase a farm, then with my six months I would decamp.†
Chpt 81-82unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use pretense.
- Consequently, the procureur is very active in the affair, and the prefect of police very much interested; and, thanks to that interest, for which I am very grateful, they send me all the robbers of Paris and the neighborhood, under pretence of their being Caderousse's murderers, so that in three months, if this continues, every robber and assassin in France will have the plan of my house at his fingers' end.†
Chpt 85-86
- Before daybreak he would awake, leave the inn after rigorously paying his bill, and reaching the forest, he would, under pretence of making studies in painting, test the hospitality of some peasants, procure himself the dress of a woodcutter and a hatchet, casting off the lion's skin to assume that of the woodman;†
Chpt 97-98
Definition:
a false appearance or action to help one pretend
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.