pretentious

pretentious

English

Alternative forms

• prætentious (rare, pedantic or (esp. self-referentially) humorous)

Etymology

From French prétentieux, from prétention, from Latin praetēnsus (“false or hypocritical profession”), past participle of praetendō.

Note that pretentious is spelled with a ‘t’, unlike related pretense, pretension. This is due to the French spelling: *-sious does not occur as an English suffix, though -sion and -tion both do.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈtɛnʃəs/[1]

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

pretentious (comparative more pretentious, superlative most pretentious)

1. Intended to impress others.

   Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.

2. Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.

   Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.

   • 2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 56:

     The station (1840) was originally Cheltenham but the more grandiose Cheltenham Spa since 1925, which feels a bit pretentious as the town has never allowed itself to assume such airs and graces.

Synonyms

• poseur
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

Antonyms

• unpretentious

Derived terms

• pretentiously
• pretentiousness

Related terms

• pretend
• pretender
• pretense
• pretension

Translations

marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction

Arabic: مَغْرُور‎ (maḡrūr) Belarusian: прэтэнцыёзны (pretencyjózny) Bulgarian: претенциозен (bg) (pretenciozen) Catalan: pretensiós Chinese: Mandarin: 做作 (zh) (zuòzuo) Czech: domýšlivý (cs) Danish: prætentiøs Dutch: pretentieus (nl), zelfingenomen (nl) Finnish: mahtaileva (fi) French: prétentieux (fr) Galician: pretensioso m German: protzig (de), prätentiös (de) Hungarian: elbizakodott (hu) Irish: móiréiseach, sotalach, postúil, gaisciúil Italian: pretenzioso (it) Macedonian: претенцио́зен (pretenciózen) Maori: rangiwhata Norwegian: Bokmål: pretensiøs Nynorsk: pretensiøs Portuguese: armante, pretensioso (pt) Romanian: pretențios (ro) Russian: претенцио́зный (ru) (pretencióznyj) Spanish: pretencioso (es), macanudo (es) Swedish: pretentiös (sv) Turkish: iddialı (tr), kasıntılı (tr), havalı (tr) (iinformal), göz boyama, kendini beğenmiş

intended to impress others

Bulgarian: превзет (bg) (prevzet) Catalan: ostentós Chinese: Mandarin: 炫耀的 (zh) (xuànyào de) Finnish: näyttävä (fi) Hungarian: nagyképű (hu) Irish: taibhseach, gáifeach, thar fóir Italian: pretenzioso (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: pretensiøs Russian: показно́й (ru) (pokaznój) Spanish: pretencioso (es) Turkish: gösterişçi (tr), iddialı (tr)

References

1. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]

• pretentious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• pretentious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• pretentious at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• postuterine