noun
definition
An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.
definition
Something asserted or alleged on slight evidence; an unwarranted assumption.
definition
Intention; design.
Examples of pretences in a Sentence
Bonar describes as " mere pretences at catechisms."
This enigmatic personage appeared in Islay, and rather had his pretences thrust on him than assumed them; he was half-witted.
It was saved by the refusal of the lesser gentry to rise, and by the alliance of the king with the citizen class, which was not led astray by the pretences of regard for the public weal which cloaked the designs of the leaguers.
He was thereupon interrupted by the earl, who proceeded to defend himself, by declaring that in one of the letters drawn up by Bacon, and purporting to be from the earl to Anthony Bacon, the existence of these rumours, and the dangers to be apprehended from them, had been admitted; and he continued, " If these reasons were then just and true, not counterfeit, how can it be that now my pretences are false and injurious?"
And so, in stating this business, I do pretend to have done as much for the proportion as for the ellipsis, and to have as much right to the one from Mr Hooke and all men, as to the other from Kepler; and therefore on this account also he must at least moderate his pretences.
The union was in fact hindered by the waywardness and the absurd pretences of Chatham, and the want of force in Lord Rockingham.
During the daytime reliefs took place as usual, pretences were made of disembarking animals and stores at the jetties, and the result was that the Turks remained in complete ignorance as to what was going on close to their lines.
Public sittings are apt to be means of obtaining money by false pretences, and the great scandal of spiritualism is undoubtedly the encouragement it gives to the immoral trade of fraudulent mediumship.
Josephus, whose pretences had postponed the final assault, hid in a cave with forty men.
The natives were decoyed into the labour ships under false pretences, and then detained by force; or they were seized on shore or in their canoes and carried on board.