(~s)
Note: in AM, use 'pretense'
1.
A ~ is an action or way of behaving that is intended to make people believe something that is not true.
Welland made a ~ of writing a note in his pad...
We have to go along with the ~ that things are getting better...
N-VAR
2.
If you do something under false ~s, 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 ~s...
PHRASE: usu under PHR