pretensions

noun

plural of pretension
1
as in rights
an entitlement to something a pretension of long standing to the throne of Hungary

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in goals
something that one hopes or intends to accomplish has serious pretensions of becoming a writer

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pretensions The genre, with its sanitized storylines and Oscar-baiting pretensions, seems fundamentally at odds with the iconoclastic chef and television personality. — Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2026 Like Paul Schrader’s 1982 version of the latter, this is an upscale genre piece whose pretensions towards Art are upfront, starting with a quotation from no less than Schopenhauer. — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 July 2026 At 61, unaligned to any party faction and with no pretensions to the highest office, the Scot would represent little threat to Burnham. — Ian King, CNBC, 15 July 2026 The British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who converted to Christianity late in his life, pointed out that Jesus’s entire ministry was directed against the pretensions of earthly power. — Peter Wehner, The Atlantic, 10 June 2026 Adley and his team make great tasting plates first and foremost, but some of the items, like the unmissable chicken wings stuffed with boudin blanc and romesco, act as a cheeky affront to haute cuisine’s pretensions and conventions. — Colin Wrenn, Denver Post, 3 June 2026 Traditionally, Oscars hosts have been at their best when puncturing the pretensions of the stars in attendance, but for the most part, host Conan O’Brien bought into their sense of their own righteousness. — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 20 Mar. 2026 By the early 1950s, many clerics had come to see the Pahlavi monarchy, for all its secular pretensions, as a manageable partner. — Bobby Ghosh, Time, 5 Mar. 2026 The war with Ukraine has revealed the yawning gap between Russia’s pretensions and its capabilities. — George F. Will, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretensions
  1. rights
  2. goals
  3. claims
  4. purposes
  5. pretenses
  6. ambitions
  7. plans
  8. aims
Noun
  • But then came the deal put together by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to create an entity to handle the world soccer organization’s commercial enterprises, including ticket sales, broadcast and sponsorship rights.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
  • The government will expand foreigners’ rights to develop real estate in Cuba.
    — Rick Jervis, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of rights
Noun
  • Boise’s City Council on Tuesday denied an appeal from the Cathedral of the Rockies seeking to pave a parking area adjacent to its North End church, dealing a blow to an application that pit arguments of religious freedom against municipal goals.
    — Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 3 Sep. 2026
  • One of the goals behind the Lele pop-up for Uditi, who grew up in Caserta, outside of Naples, was to highlight the cuisine of his native Campania.
    — Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of goals
Noun
  • Amazon did not dispute key claims about the mechanics of its ad auctions, but said its system did not harm consumers or advertisers.
    — Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The lawsuit does not currently establish a claims process for advertisers, and no form allowing businesses to seek payment from Amazon has been announced.
    — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of claims
Noun
  • By the end of Saturday night, the sanctuary had served two purposes at once.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The other scan—the spatial scan—employs a less powerful instrument called an Xgrid Portalcam, and serves several different purposes.
    — Margherita Bassi, Popular Science, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of purposes
Noun
  • The strategic mistake of invading Iraq on false pretenses was then compounded by tactical errors.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Johnson created the story of Nancy (Emilia Jones), who is not a girlfriend, but a crush who Bourdain foolhardily (and under false pretenses) follows to Provincetown after not getting a writing fellowship.
    — Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of pretenses
Noun
  • The company was founded in 2014 with high ambitions and the backing of a Chinese billionaire.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Once upon a time, Herzog was the crazy visionary, determined at all costs to realize his aesthetic ambitions to feel more, to see deeper, to explore the madness of the world, a bit of a holy fool himself.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of ambitions
Noun
  • Once the moon enters Gemini, conversations will pick up speed as plans become more flexible.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2026
  • That includes its previous plans to commit more than $10 billion to autonomous vehicles in the coming years.
    — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of plans
Noun
  • Moving away from a retrospective punishment mechanism appealed to Portsmouth too, as did the shift to a focus on liquidity, something which meshes with the aims of the independent football regulator, which recently came into operation in England.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Vance’s comments also seemed to suggest that the administration was more acutely focused on the economic impact of the war than the original aims of the war itself.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of aims

Browse Nearby Words

pretension
pretensions
pretentious
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Cite this Entry

“Pretensions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretensions. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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