pretender Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a claimant to the throne or to the office of ruler (usually without just title)
  2. noun a person who makes deceitful pretenses
    fraud; shammer; imposter; impostor; pseudo; faker; pseud; role player; fake; sham.
  3. noun a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives
    hypocrite; phoney; dissembler; phony; dissimulator.

WordNet


Pre*tend"er noun
Definitions
  1. One who lays claim, or asserts a title (to something); a claimant. Specifically, The pretender (Eng. Hist.), the son or the grandson of James II., the heir of the royal family of Stuart, who laid claim to the throne of Great Britain, from which the house was excluded by law.
    It is the shallow, unimproved intellects that are the confident pretenders to certainty. Glanvill.
  2. One who pretends, simulates, or feigns.

Webster 1913