Word Finder - pretentious

definition

Intended to impress others; ostentatious.

example

Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.

definition

Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.

example

Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.

The buildings erected by Abdur Rahman were pretentious, but unmarked by any originality in design and hardly worthy representation of the beauty and dignity of Mahommedan architecture.

His chief defects are a somewhat pretentious and at the same time monotonous style, and a want of sympathy and intensity.

His writing style is unnecessarily pretentious.

I don't appreciate your pretentious attitude!

I had a hard time agreeing with her pretentious point of view.

Although he makes much more money than his peers, he does his best to avoid acting pretentious.

After earning his degree, my brother has been so pretentious towards his old friends.

His literary training was inadequate; his vocabulary is limited and his style awkward and pretentious; and he had a fondness for moralizing tritely and obviously, which mars his best passages.

There is a myriad of pretentious students at this Ivy League school.

This new house was cozy, not as big and pretentious as the last one, and Anne liked it.

There are monuments to the two former in the town, while the resting-place of the latter in the cemetery is marked by a less pretentious memorial.

I think some people enjoy being pretentious.

Dressed in a ball gown, she made an overly pretentious appearance at the simple high school dance.

Don't you just love the pretentious cretins who try to plumb the depths of artistic endeavor?

Now that sounds like a load of pretentious old wank, does n't it?

It is immensely diffuse and pretentious, loaded with digressions, its argument buried under masses of fantastic, uncritical learning, the work of a vigorous but quite unoriginal mind.

Spikes are for pretentious gutter goths.

Expect nothing fancy or pretentious here, just a Mexican mountain ranch family atmosphere with a mouthwatering home cooked flavor and an authentic cowboy taste.

My tormentor slipped back into his silly pretentious way of speaking.

How could Guy Ritchie, who showed such chutzpah in his first couple of films, have become such a muddled, pretentious bore?

This, the most pretentious of all the state banks of the period, was capitalized at $15,500,000.

The party should never be held longer than three months after the proposal, however, or it will seem too pretentious or presumptuous.

This little item is perfect for eveningwear, but less pretentious than a clutch.

But, other people shun Christmas letters as pretentious, tacky, or boring.

It isn't pretentious as you are now an appreciator of foreign art.

Excessive displays of "personality" may confuse him and ultimately lead him to think you're pretentious.

The "elegant" atmosphere of the dining room is fancy, without being pretentious, and the special tasting menu is luxe to say the least.

On top of this, he is a good storyteller and a clear writer who avoids the pitfalls of pretentious art-world jargon.

Originating emotion still clots the lines and, while we strive for originality, the work becomes muddled, pretentious or incoherent.

Our advice, save yourself the agony of anymore verbal assaults from this pretentious poseur.

Paul tries not to sound too pretentious whilst writing about himself in the third person.

Moda Virginia Street Esthetically pleasing if slightly pretentious bar.

I guess I was worried the truth might sound a bit pretentious, silly, or implausible.

The dialog is poor, the whole movie just seems far too pretentious for me!

The religious undertones throughout the film can become quite pretentious.

Now that sounds like a load of pretentious old wank, doesn't it?

Proceeding to illustrated works generally of less pretentious size, but of greater ornithological utility than the books last mentioned, which are fitter for the drawing-room than the study, we next have to consider some in which the text is not wholly subordinated to the plates, though the latter still form a conspicuous feature of the publication.

It will be enough merely to name Dumeril's Zoologie analytique (1806) and Gravenhorst's Vergleichende Ubersicht des linneischen and einiger neuern zoologischen Shaw and Systeme (1807); nor need we linger over Shaw's General Zoology, a pretentious compilation continued by Stephens.

He prepared plans for the construction of a canal between the Hudson river and Lake Champlain before 1776, and, in 1792-1796, carried to a successful conclusion a more pretentious scheme for connecting the Hudson with Lake Ontario by way of the Mohawk, Oneida Lake and the Onondaga river.

On the whole, however, though Ramus may be allowed to have advanced logical study by the wholesome fermentation of thought which he caused, there is little ground for his pretentious claim to supersede Aristotle by a new and independent system.

The "Absolute" doctrines he regarded as a mere disguise of failure, a dishonest attempt to clothe ignorance in the pretentious garb of mystery.

The more modern constructions of the Colonia Juarez and other new residence districts are more attractive and pretentious in appearance, but are less solidly built.

In 1636 he met with a congenial spirit in William Crabtree, a draper of Broughton, near Manchester; and encouraged by his advice he exchanged the guidance of Philipp von Lansberg, a pretentious but inaccurate Belgian astronomer, for that of Kepler.

His best writing is to be found in his journalism and correspondence (only a small part of which has been published), rather than in his more pretentious political pamphlets.

The pretentious language often applied to it by economists is objectionable, as being apt to make us forget that the whole subject with which it deals is as yet very imperfectly understood - the causes which modify the force of the sexual instinct, and those which lead to variations in fecundity, still awaiting a complete investigation.

The Roman Catholic cathedral is more pretentious in style, but is tawdry in its interior.

Of a more pretentious character was a design published by Switzer in 1742.

It is written in a mystical and pretentious style, but the philosophy of it, if allowance be made for the allegorical method of the time, is by no means to be despised.

The originating emotion still clots the lines or, in striving for originality, the work becomes muddled, pretentious or incoherent.

Either way, most brides-to-be agree it is much nicer to be able to curl up on the living room couch than it is to fight through a crowded mall or pretentious bridal shop to find your dream dress.