pretension
Example Sentences
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In some ways the films seem to invite accusations of pretension, of reach exceeding grasp and grandeur stretched into grandiosity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Total self-assurance is exactly how Sonny, like Pitt, gets away with his pretension.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2025
The scene was very close-knit, and they didn’t have any pretension of getting signed to a major label or anything.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2025
There was a baby-knit culotte and matching polo with Gucci stripe detailing, worn without pretension.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
It’s a city that prides itself on its open-mindedness, its lack of pretension, and its homegrown slang.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
He has no pretensions, but he’s completely comfortable on camera—something to director Lee’s advantage and which probably helped the pupils to relax.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Kenyon’s dig at “uproarious pedantry” nods to James’s intellectual pretensions, which some courtiers derided—even though a learned monarch seems preferable to an ignorant one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Reflecting on the press, he later noted, "The press has pretensions of being a crusader but is more often a preserver of the status quo."
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2025
In 1956, shortly before his death, Mencken went even further; “American journalism is predominantly paltry and worthless. Its pretensions are enormous, but its achievements are insignificant.”
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2025
The manor-house of Ferndean was a building of considerable antiquity, moderate size, and no architectural pretensions, deep buried in a wood.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Vocabulary lists containing pretension
Common Sense
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Pygmalion
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The 57 Bus
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