Synonyms for pretense

noun

1. The act of pretending

   affectation, misrepresentation, falsification, act, deceit, fabrication, trickery, double-dealing, misstatement, shuffling, falsifying, simulation, excuse, insincerity, profession, ostentation, assumption, dissembling, dissimulation, evasion, equivocation, prevarication, egotism, brazenness, arrogance, dandyism, foppery, servility, toadyism, obsequiousness, sycophancy, cringing, truckling, timeserving, complacency, smugness, priggishness, prudishness, coyness, formality, stiffness, blind*, smoke screen*; see also dishonesty, imitation 1.

   Antonyms honesty*, candor, sincerity.

2. Something pretended

   gloss, falsehood, lie, falseness, affectedness, affectation, mask, cloak, show, excuse, subterfuge, pretext, fraud, appearance, seeming, semblance, wile, ruse, sham, airs, claim, mannerism; see also deception 1, imitation 2, trick 1.