English Explanatory Dictionary

pretender

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. One who intends or purposes.
  2. One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
  3. One who aspires to the hand of a woman in marriage; a suitor, a wooer.
  4. A claimant to a throne or the office of a ruler; originally in a neutral sense, but now always applied to a claimant who is held to have no just title.
  5. One who pretends or lays claim to something; one who makes a profession, show, or assertion, especially without adequate grounds, falsely, or with intent to deceive; a dissembler, deceiver, charlatan, hypocrite.
  6. A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold.
verb
  1. To tender (a bid, etc.) in advance.

Pronunciation

/pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pretender.wav

Word forms

pretender pretenders pretendering pretendered

Etymology

From pretend + -er.

Synonyms

dissembler flip-flopper hypocrite phony bamboozler bouncer bullshitter cheat cheater cogger cony-catcher crammer deceiver deceptor fabricator fabulist falser gabber grifter guiler liar losenger mocker pseudologist rook Scandaroon shammer Spanish athlete swindler swike treacher trickster trucker wernard

Derived words

Old Pretender pretenderism pretendership pretendress public pretender Young Pretender

Translations

Bulgarian: претенде́нт German: Beansprucher German: Ansprucherheber German: Prätendent German: Vortäuscher German: Schwindler German: Betrüger German: Täuscher German: Scharlatan Hungarian: igénylő Hungarian: igényt tartó Hungarian: jogot formáló
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary