Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

pretension

 noun
     
pre‧ten‧sion [countable usually plural, uncountable]
1 an attempt to seem more important, more intelligent, or of a higher class than you really are
pretension to
Lilith resented Adam's pretensions to superiority.
the humbleness and lack of pretension of Jordan's cafe
2 a claim to be or do something
pretension(s) to be something
The group don't have any pretensions to be pop stars.
pretension to
a large village with pretensions to the status of a small town
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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