pretentiouslyadv.
/prᵻˈtɛnʃəsli/, U.S. /priˈtɛn(t)ʃəsli/, /prəˈtɛn(t)ʃəsli/ In a pretentious manner.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [adverb]
fastuously1654
pensily1725
with one's head in the air1788
pretentiously1848
uppishly1911
snottily1927
snootily1940
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adverb]
boggishlya1375
with great renowna1400
jettingly1440
flourishingly?1545
rufflingly1575
flaunt-a-flaunt1576
peacock-like1576
peacockwise1577
peacockly1580
aflaunt1584
vauntingly1593
wealth boastingly1593
prankingly1610
fastuously1654
ostentativelya1658
ostentously1665
ostentatiously1671
showily1755
violently1771
paradingly1792
peacockically1834
peacockishly1834
pretentiously1848
ostensibly1855
slangily1858
peacocky1860
splurgily1887
swankily1924
glitzily1982
1848 Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) 22 Aug. In all this there is nothing peculiar or distinctive, unless it may be said that the principles, so formally and pretentiously enunciated by Mr. Butler, are, and have been for years, the peculiar and distinctive doctrines of the great Whig party.
a1864 E. W. Farnham Ideal Attained (1865) xxxiv. 275 They lived in a smart house, pretentiously and showily furnished, in Powell Street.
1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iii. 64 Even in his newspaper letters..his impressions are never given pretentiously.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xiv. 113 ‘It was a concert at the Queen's Hall, I think you will recollect,’ he added pretentiously.
1988 P. Toynbee End of Journey 303 His writing seems to me to be not only bad but pretentiously and affectedly bad.
2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Weekend Suppl.) p. VI/5 The Netherlands Architectural Institute, typically housed in a pretentiously ridiculous modern building.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1848