pretender

Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last shah of Iran and pretender to the throne, was a scheduled speaker, and the event was packed with Iranian monarchists.

From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2026

Like many previous movies about those who ply that physical trade, “Rental Family” explores the anguish of a paid pretender troubled by increasingly genuine feelings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025

Artists can sniff out genius from fakes, and Thanos sure looks like a parody of a pretender T.O.P. has encountered in the wild.

From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2025

The 100m breaststroke competition could be the ultimate showdown between a champion and the young pretender.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2024

“Honored ones, let me take this...this pretender, this prince of thieves, to the mines, where his words will be the only ones he hears in a long time.”

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

Football is littered with any number of former pretenders to the Messi throne, all of whom have achieved and suffered varying degrees of success and adversity.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

Arsenal have been the great pretenders to the Premier League title in recent years, finishing second in the past three seasons.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2026

“Paul is building something special with a two-track career driven by his passion and an unrelenting quality that separates the pretenders from the contenders,” MLW Founder and CEO Court Bauer said.

From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024

The collapse of a million Laker mistakes ended with one Denver Nuggets masterpiece, the ugliness of pretenders trumped by the beauty of champions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2024

It seemed that the man was on the lookout for pretenders, for kids who didn’t really want to be there, for wimps.

From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli