An act of pretending; a false claim or assertion made to deceive; an attempt to make something appear true when it is not.
From Latin 'praetendere' meaning 'to stretch before, hold out as an excuse', from 'prae-' (before) + 'tendere' (to stretch). Originally meant legitimate claim, but evolved to mean false claim by the 16th century.
The British spelling 'pretence' versus American 'pretense' reflects broader patterns of language evolution - the 'c/s' distinction in words like defence/defense shows how geographic separation creates linguistic divergence.
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