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

Occasionally a pretender has exploded out of the blocks in early season, winning games, throwing shapes, threatening to upset the way of things, but they've always been cut down by the Glasgow goliaths.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 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

But it is necessary to know how to colour over this nature effectively, and to be a great pretender and dissembler.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

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

Friends turn into enemies and enemies become friends, among politicians and pretenders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024

Corny posers and pretenders didn’t care about sneakers the way we did; that feeling of opening up a box of new Jordan’s was something that we owned.

From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024

That’s one short of a record for one regular-season weekend — not including conference title games — and an opportunity to identify serious playoff contenders, maybe expose pretenders and set the tone for conference races.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2023

Masters of power politics, engineers of genius, the Mexica were also upstarts and pretenders, arrivistes who falsely claimed a brilliant line of descent.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann