4 uses
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Definition
acting more impressive than is deserved
- The club was a dingy building, three pretentious old dwellingsChapter 15 (8% in)
pretentious = trying to appear more impressive than is deserved
- 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.Chapter 1 (62% in)
- 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.Chapter 18 (98% in)
- His glasses on their broad pretentious ribbon banged against his stomach.Chapter 23 (27% in)
There are no more uses of "pretentious" in Babbitt.
Typical Usage
(best examples)