All 4 Uses
pretense
in
The Apology, by Plato
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- Then I went to another who had still higher pretensions to wisdom, and my conclusion was exactly the same.†
*pretensions = appearances or actions to help one pretend
- they do not know, and cannot tell; but in order that they may not appear to be at a loss, they repeat the ready-made charges which are used against all philosophers about teaching things up in the clouds and under the earth, and having no gods, and making the worse appear the better cause; for they do not like to confess that their pretence of knowledge has been detected—which is the truth; and as they are numerous and ambitious and energetic, and are drawn up in battle array and have persuasive tongues, they have filled your ears with their loud and inveterate calumnies.†
unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use pretense.
- For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.†
- For the fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretence of knowing the unknown; and no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.†
Definitions:
-
(1)
(pretense) a false appearance or action to help one pretendThis 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.
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)