pretense

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For those of my generation who were fortunate enough to go to college, it did expose much of the pretense of higher education and made us admit as much.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

Pitino has made a smooth transition to college basketball’s wild new order, in which the pretense of amateurism has been abandoned and the transfer portal reshapes the roster every 12 months.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

“It’s a terrible idea to move swiftly and not have the really complicated and challenging process that is required to actually work towards more than a superficial pretense of revisionist history,” Gudis said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2026

By the end, he abandons any pretense of legal reasoning, quoting lines from the majority and waving them away as “misleading,” without any explanation.

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2025

No pretense, which is funny since all they do outside these doors is pretend.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz