Pre*tend"er*ship, n. The character, right, or claim of a pretender.
Swift.
Pre*tend"ing*ly, adv. As by right or title; arrogantly; presumptuously.
Collier.
{ Pre*tense", Pre*tence } (?), n. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus,
p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.] 1. The act of
laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. Spenser.
Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely
inheriting property or power.
Locke.
I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of
Merton College, Oxford.
Evelyn.
2. The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or
feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception
by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show;
simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on
pretense of revenging CÊsar's death.
3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical show,
argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense Of proffered peace,
delude the Latian prince.
Dryden.