pretender

== English == === Etymology 1 === From pretend + -er. ==== Pronunciation ==== IPA(key): /pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/ Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ) ==== Noun ==== pretender (plural pretenders) (obsolete, rare) One who intends or purposes. One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions. (obsolete) One who aspires to the hand of a woman in marriage; a suitor, a wooer. A claimant to a throne or the office of a ruler; originally in a neutral sense, but now always applied to a claimant who is held to have no just title. 1708 March 11th, Anne Regina, The Queen’s Speech to both Houses, in The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons, volume IV: 1706–1713, London: Chandler (1742), § iv: “First Parliament of Great Britain”, page 92: One who pretends or lays claim to something; one who makes a profession, show, or assertion, especially without adequate grounds, falsely, or with intent to deceive; a dissembler, deceiver, charlatan, hypocrite. A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold. Synonyms: dissembler, flip-flopper, hypocrite, phony; see also Thesaurus:deceiver ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From pre- + tender. ==== Verb ==== pretender (third-person singular simple present pretenders, present participle pretendering, simple past and past participle pretendered) (uncommon) To tender (a bid, etc.) in advance. == Galician == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin praetendere. === Verb === pretender (first-person singular present pretendo, first-person singular preterite pretendín, past participle pretendido) to want to; have the intention of to claim (something that is very difficult to believe) to try to marry or maintain a fiancé relationship with another person ==== Conjugation ==== == Portuguese == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin praetendere. === Pronunciation === === Verb === pretender (first-person singular present pretendo, first-person singular preterite pretendi, past participle pretendido) to want to pretend to intend to request to aspire ==== Usage notes ==== Pretender is a false friend, and does not mean pretend in the sense of to claim that or act as if something is different from what it actually is. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Related terms ==== pretenso pretensão === Further reading === “pretender”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026 “pretender”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026 == Spanish == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin praetendere. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /pɾetenˈdeɾ/ [pɾe.t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] Rhymes: -eɾ Syllabification: pre‧ten‧der === Verb === pretender (first-person singular present pretendo, first-person singular preterite pretendí, past participle pretendido) to intend, to aim (for/to) to woo, to court Synonym: cortejar (Latin America, possibly nonstandard) to pretend, purport (claim, allege) ==== Usage notes ==== With the exception of non-standard or dialectal use (see sense 3), pretender is a false friend and does not mean pretend in the sense of to claim that or act as if something is different from what it actually is. The Spanish word for pretend in that sense is fingir. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Related terms ==== === Further reading === “pretender”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025