trying to appear important, intelligent, etc. in order to impress other people; trying to be something that you are not, in order to impress That's a pretentious name for a dog! It was just an ordinary house—nothing pretentious. He's so pretentious! compare unpretentious
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adverb
noun [uncountable] There was no hint of pretentiousness in her manner.See pretentious in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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