transcription, транскрипция: [ prɪtens, AM pri:tens ]
( pretences)
Note: in AM, use 'pretense'
1.
A pretence is an action or way of behaving that is intended to make people believe something that is not true.
Welland made a pretence of writing a note in his pad...
We have to go along with the pretence that things are getting better...
N-VAR
2.
If you do something under false pretences , you do it when people do not know the truth about you and your intentions.
I could not go on living with a man who had married me under false pretences...
PHRASE : usu under PHR