pretentious

English

Alternative forms

• prætentious (rare, pedantic or (esp. self-referentially) humorous)

Etymology

From French prétentieux, from prétention, from Latin praetēnsus (“false or hypocritical profession”), past participle of praetendō.

Note that pretentious is spelled with a ‘t’, unlike related pretense, pretension. This is due to the French spelling: *-sious does not occur as an English suffix, though -sion and -tion both do.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈtɛnʃəs/

Adjective

pretentious (comparative more pretentious, superlative most pretentious)

1. Intended to impress others; ostentatious.

   Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.

2. Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.

   Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.

Synonyms

• poseur
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

Antonyms

• unpretentious

Derived terms

• pretentiously
• pretentiousness

Related terms

• pretend
• pretender
• pretense
• pretension

Translations

marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction

• Arabic: مَغْرُور‎ (maḡrūr)
• Belarusian: прэтэнцыёзны (pretencyjózny)
• Catalan: pretensiós
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 做作 (zh) (zuòzuo)

• Czech: domýšlivý (cs)
• Dutch: pretentieus (nl), zelfingenomen (nl)
• Finnish: mahtaileva
• French: prétentieux (fr)
• Galician: pretensioso m
• German: protzig (de), prätentiös (de)
• Irish: móiréiseach, sotalach, postúil, gaisciúil

• Italian: pretenzioso (it)
• Maori: rangiwhata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pretensiøs

  Nynorsk: pretensiøs

• Portuguese: pretensioso (pt)
• Romanian: pretențios (ro)
• Russian: претенцио́зный (ru) (pretencióznyj)
• Spanish: pretencioso (es), macanudo (es)
• Swedish: pretentiös (sv)
• Turkish: iddialı (tr), kasıntılı (tr)

intended to impress others

• Catalan: ostentós
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 炫耀的 (zh) (xuànyào de)

• Finnish: näyttävä (fi)
• Irish: taibhseach, gáifeach, thar fóir

• Italian: pretenzioso (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pretensiøs

• Russian: показно́й (ru) (pokaznój)
• Turkish: gösterişçi (tr), iddialı (tr)

References

• pretentious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pretentious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• pretentious at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• postuterine