pretentious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /prɪˈtɛnʃəs/ UK /prɪˈtɛnʃəs/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
attempting to impress by affecting greater importance than is warranted

The review mocked the film's pretentious dialogue.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · attempting to impress by... affected ostentatious pompous grandiose showy highfalutin conceitedsnobbish

Opposites

unpretentious modest humble unaffected

Word family

Derived forms pretentiouslypretentiousness

Related forms pretend pretense pretension

Etymology

From French prétentieux, from prétention ('pretension'), ultimately from Latin praetendere ('to stretch forth, allege'), from prae- ('before') + tendere ('to stretch').

praetendere Latin tendere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# pretentious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** prɪˈtɛnʃəs
**IPA (UK):** prɪˈtɛnʃəs

## Meanings
1. attempting to impress by affecting greater importance than is warranted

## Examples
- The review mocked the film's pretentious dialogue.

## Synonyms
- affected
- ostentatious
- pompous
- grandiose
- showy
- highfalutin
- conceited
- snobbish

## Antonyms
- unpretentious
- modest
- humble
- unaffected

## Derived Forms
- pretentiously
- pretentiousness

## Related Forms
- pretend
- pretense
- pretension

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: praetendere
- Root: tendere

## Etymology
From French prétentieux, from prétention ('pretension'), ultimately from Latin praetendere ('to stretch forth, allege'), from prae- ('before') + tendere ('to stretch').

## AI Etymology
Pretentious is from French prétentieux, from prétention ('pretension'), ultimately from Latin praetendere ('to stretch forth, allege'), from prae- ('before') + tendere ('to stretch'). Important recorded forms include praetendere (Latin) and tendere (Latin). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers attempting to impress by affecting greater importance than is warranted. The wider family includes derived forms such as pretentiously and pretentiousness and related words such as pretend, pretense, and pretension.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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