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Webster 1913 Edition


Pretender

Pre-tend′er

,
Noun.
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 1828 Edition


Pretender

PRETEND'ER

,
Noun.
One who makes a show of something not real; one who lays claim to any thing.
1.
In English history, the heir of the royal family of Stuart, who lays claim to the crown of Great Britain, but is excluded by law.