pretendern.
/prᵻˈtɛndə/, U.S. /prəˈtɛndər/, /priˈtɛndər/ 1. A person who makes a profession or assertion, esp. falsely or hypocritically; a person who lays claim to an ability, quality, skill, etc., esp. without adequate grounds or with intent to deceive; a charlatan; a dissembler.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > [noun] > claiming as due or right > to merit, worth, etc. > one who
pretender1583
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > a charlatan, fraudster > [noun]
shondc725
faitoura1340
fob1393
trumper?c1450
feature14..
chuffera1500
prowler1519
truphane1568
cozener1575
cogger1580
pretender1583
impostor1586
mountebank1589
sycophant?1589
foolmonger1593
affronter1598
assumer1600
knight (also lord, man, etc.) of gingerbread1602
pettifogger1602
budgeter1603
quacksalver1611
empiric1614
putter-off?1615
quack1638
stafador1638
saltimbanco1646
adventurer1648
fourbe1668
shammer1677
imposer1678
charlatana1680
sham1683
cheat1687
hocus1692
gull1699
shamster1716
coal-blower1720
humbugger1752
gagger1781
fudge1794
humbug1804
potwalloper1820
twister1834
jackleg1844
fraud1850
bunyip1852
empiricist1854
Bayswater Captain1880
bluffer1888
putter-down1906
quandong1939
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > [noun] > one who or that which dissembles
feigner1382
pseudo1402
simular1526
simuler1534
colourer1554
counterfeiter1561
truphane1568
counterfeit1574
put-forth1581
pretender1583
impostor1586
idol1590
would-be1607
phantasm1622
farce1696
imposture1699
Barmecide1713
simulator1835
fraud1850
sham1850
fake1855
swindle1858
shammer1861
make-believe1863
hoax1869
economizer1874
make-believer1884
ringer1896
phoney1902
faker1910
shill1976
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie lxxxiii. 518 Let vs take the greatest pretenders of holinesse among them, and wee shall finde them full of pride and statelinesse, full of malice and enuie against their neighbours, and burning with couetousnesse.
1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. xxxiii. sig. F10 A Pretender to Learning is one that would make others more fooles then himselfe.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xviii. 89 So evident a lye, even in the pretenders own consciences.
1675 Char. Town-gallant (subtitle) The extravagant fopperies of some vain self conceited pretenders to gentility and good breeding.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. p. xlv It is not so easy an Acquirement as a few ignorant Pretenders may imagine.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 492 That honour has been long The boast of mere pretenders to the name.
1848 A. Jameson Sacred & Legendary Art (1850) 122 Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural powers.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 28 To distinguish the pretender in medicine from the true physician.
1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 43 Heel,..An incompetent; an undesirable; an inefficient or pusillanimous pretender to sterling criminal qualifications.
1958 G. M. Sykes Society of Captives Introd. p. xix Language presents no great barrier, it is true, but there is an argot to be mastered and a misused term marks you off as a pretender.
1991 A. S. Berger & J. Berger Encycl. Parapsychol. & Psychical Res. 267/1 The leading pretender to metal-bending is Uri Geller whose public performances have focussed attention on this phenomenon.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > intention > [noun] > intention or purpose > one who intends or purposes
purposerc1475
intendera1535
aimer1588
pretender1591
pretendant1598
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Pretensor A pretender, he that purposeth.
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes A pretendent, a pretender, an intender, a meaner.
3. † c. A suitor, a wooer. Obsolete.
a. A person who claims or aspires to a title or position, esp. a claimant to a throne (often when considered to have no just title); (with the and capital initial) James Stuart, son of James II, = Old Pretender n. at old adj. Compounds 4, Young Pretender n. at young adj. and n.1 Compounds 6.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > [noun] > claimant to office of ruler
pretender1593
intender1640
society > authority > office > holder of office > [noun] > pretender to throne or high office
pretender1593
affronter1598
Perkin1673
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > [noun] > one who or that which dissembles > claiming high office
pretender1593
affronter1598
Perkin Warbeck1641
Perkin1673
pretendant1826
1593 R. Parsons & H. Walpole Newes from Spayne & Holland f. 35v Ther be so many pretenders now to the crowne.
1656 W. Sanderson Compl. Hist. Mary & James VI i. 188 A strang medley of pretenders..to the Crown of England.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 125 If intestine Broils allarm the Hive, (For two Pretenders oft for Empire strive). View more context for this quotation
1708 Q. Anne Speech House Parl. 11 Mar. in R. Chandler Hist. & Proc. House of Commons (1742) IV. 92 The French fleet sailed from Dunkirk..with the Pretender on board.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1734) II. 503 She [sc. Queen Anne] also fixed a new Designation on the Pretended Prince of Wales, and called him the Pretender; and he was so called in a new Set of Addresses..upon this occasion..made to the Queen.
1745 P. C. Webb (title) Remarks on the Pretender's Son's Second Declaration.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xvi. 576 The Pretender..had friends in the tory government more sincere, probably and zealous than [the earl] of Oxford.
1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany III. 633 Wullenweber..turned to the nearest protestant pretender, Duke Christian, and offered him his assistance to obtain the crown.
1884 ‘V. Lee’ C'tess Albany iii. 28 The Pretender's bride must often have met a knot of people conveying a stabbed man..to the nearest barber or apothecary.
1958 Life 19 May 36/2 Washington received him as Prince Juan Carlos, grandson of the last Spanish king, son of the present Pretender to the throne, Don Juan, and Generalismo Franco's choice to take over the crown.
1985 J. Morris Last Letters from Hav vii. 58 The pretender to the Caliphate was very suave, and not I thought very caliph-like.
2003 D. Lynch in E. Schor Cambr. Compan. Mary Shelley viii. 146 They remember Perkin [Warbeck] as a pretender; Shelley remembers him as a prince.
b. A person who aspires or makes a claim (in modern use esp. groundlessly) to an honour, inheritance, office, victory, etc.; a candidate, a contender. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > aspiration, ambition > [noun] > one who aspires
pursuanta1393
aspirer1584
pretender1598
high-flyer1600
candidate1648
well-wisher1711
aspirant1738
aspirant1743
fast-tracker1970
the mind > language > speech > request > one who requests > [noun] > one who makes a demand or claim
claimerc1440
plucker awayc1460
demandera1533
demandant1590
pretender1598
pretendant1600
claimant1747
1598 I. D. tr. L. Le Roy Aristotles Politiques ii. ii. 72 The pretenders to make children common, do commit a great absurdity, in that they only forbid the mutual company of louers, and prohibite not loue it self.
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne Persons of Play, in Wks. I. 528 Mrs. Trusty... Mrs. Otter... Pretenders.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. 214 By how straight a Rule..must that Pretender carry himselfe, who is to saile thorow the sea of this world, hoping for a fortune from another mans hand?
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) VI. 120 The sinister supplantations of pretenders to places in Court.
1646 H. Lawrence Of Communion & Warre with Angels 116 Every one is a pretender and a runner; but few carry the prize.
1674 J. Evelyn Navigation & Commerce (subtitle) In which His Majesties title to the dominion of the sea is asserted, against the novel, and later pretenders.
1728 E. Haywood tr. M.-A. de Gomez Belle Assemblée (1732) II. 235 It is not my design to dispose of Irene to the most noble, but most wealthy of the Pretenders to her Love.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xiv. 218 The issue of the eldest son excludes all other pretenders, as the son himself (if living) would have done.
1780 S. Johnson Let. 25 May (1992) III. 263 A Candidate for a School at Brewood in Staffordshire, to which, I think, there are seventeen pretenders.
1821 W. Scott Pirate III. xii. 287 An arrogant pretender to the favour of the sisters of Burgh-Westra, who only hesitated, sultan-like, on whom he should bestow the handkerchief.
1845 B. Disraeli Sybil II. iv. vii. 238 I would sooner gain five thousand pounds by restoring you to your rights, than fifty thousand in establishing any of these pretenders in their base assumptions.
1883 M. Watkins in Academy 8 Sept. 164/1 The claims of all pretenders to join the British Avifauna are strictly examined.
1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders I. xv. 265 I'll do all I can for him as a friend; but as a pretender to the position of my son-in law, that can never be thought of more.
1992 SkiTrax Dec. 11/4 Many contenders or pretenders have ‘lost it’ here, so conserve your energy on the way up.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > seeking marriage > [noun] > seeking hand in marriage > one who
wooerc1000
pursuivant1523
suitor?1555
requirant1567
soliciterc1592
courter1611
pretendera1625
pretendant1625
addressor1669
addresser1683
courtier1766
pursuer1823
a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) v. iii. 22 He of the two Pretenders, that best loves me. View more context for this quotation
a1699 A. Halkett Autobiogr. (1875) 17 An Earles daughter,..whose mother not allowing him to come as a pretender shee made apointmentt with him and mett him att her cousin's howse.
1789 H. More Let. in R. B. Johnson Lett. of H. More (1925) 126 Having evaded with one of her pretenders, her reputation has been committed by the bad faith of a friend.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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