pretensive, a. rare.
(prɪˈtɛnsɪv)
Also 7 -cive.
[f. late L. prætens-, ppl. stem (see pretensary) + -ive.]
1. Characterized by being asserted or pretended to be true; professed; feigned.
| 1640 H. Parker Case of Ship Money 17 If danger..be far distant..though it bee certaine, and not pretensive, yet Parliamentary Aid may be speedy enough. 1658 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 213 It has been my fortune to make experience of a pretensive stay, which proved so unsteady, that [etc.]. 1851 Kitto Bible Illustr. (ed. Porter) VII. xxx. 112 The name [Magism] covered all that was true, all that was pretensive, and all that was false, in the philosophy of the ancient Orientals. |
2. Full of pretense; pretentious, ostentatious.
| 1876 [implied in pretensiveness]. 1907 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 120/2 Their ornament is hideously heavy and pretensive. |