pretense - Wordage.info - Free Thesaurus Tool for Word Discovery - Expanded Thesaurus, Reverse Dictionary Lookup

go through the motions collapse: pretend to do something by acting as if one was really doing it; "She isn't really working--she's just going through the motions"

feign collapse: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"

rationale collapse: (law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature); "the rationale for capital punishment"; "the principles of internal-combustion engines"

divine right collapse: the doctrine that kings derive their right to rule directly from God and are not accountable to their subjects; rebellion is the worst of political crimes; "the doctrine of the divine right of kings was enunciated by the Stuarts in Britain in the 16th century"

birthright collapse: personal characteristics that are inherited at birth; a right or privilege that you are entitled to at birth; "free public education is the birthright of every American child"; an inheritance coming by right of birth (especially by primogeniture)

alibi collapse: (law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question; exonerate by means of an alibi

airs collapse: affected manners intended to impress others; "don't put on airs with me"

smoke screen collapse: an action intended to conceal or confuse or obscure; "requesting new powers of surveillance is just a smokescreen to hide their failures"; (military) screen consisting of a cloud of smoke that obscures movements

why collapse: the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'

vested interest collapse: groups that seek to control a social system or activity from which they derive private benefit; (law) an interest in which there is a fixed right to present or future enjoyment and that can be conveyed to another

pretend collapse: put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; "pretend the title of King"

prerogative collapse: a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right); "suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males"

profess collapse: state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine"; confess one's faith in, or allegiance to; "The terrorists professed allegiance to the Muslim faith"; "he professes to be a Communist"; practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about; "She professes organic chemistry"; take vows, as in religious order; "she professed herself as a nun"; receive into a religious order or congregation; state freely; "The teacher professed that he was not generous when it came to giving good grades"

simulate collapse: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep"

pretext collapse: something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason

hypocrisy collapse: insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have; an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction

simulation collapse: the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some process by means of something suitably analogous (especially for the purpose of study or personnel training); (computer science) the technique of representing the real world by a computer program; "a simulation should imitate the internal processes and not merely the results of the thing being simulated"

speciousness collapse: an appearance of truth that is false or deceptive; seeming plausibility; "the speciousness of his argument"

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