All 4 Uses of
pretentious
in
Babbitt
- There is character in spectacles—the pretentious tortoiseshell, the meek pince-nez of the school teacher, the twisted silver-framed glasses of the old villager.†
Chpt 1pretentious = attempting to act more impressive than is deserved
- The club was a dingy building, three pretentious old dwellings
Chpt 15 *pretentious = trying to appear more impressive than is deserved
- He saw the years, the brilliant winter days and all the long sweet afternoons which were meant for summery meadows, lost in such brittle pretentiousness.†
Chpt 18
- His glasses on their broad pretentious ribbon banged against his stomach.†
Chpt 23pretentious = attempting to act more impressive than is deserved
Definitions:
-
(1)
(pretentious) acting more impressive than is deserved
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, the word form, pretension, can mean to apply tension to something before an event--as when a seat belt is pretensioned so it will be snug prior to use in an accident.