1. (n.) A bold claim, whether true or false; a presumptuous assertion\; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character; as, pretensions to scholarship.

2. (n.) The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title.

Barnumism acting affectation affectedness airs airs and graces alibi ambitions ambitiousness apology appearance appurtenance artificiality aspiration attitudinizing authority bedizenment big talk birthright blind bluff bluffing charade cheating claim cloak color coloring conjugal right cover story cover-up deception delusion demand device disguise dissemblance dissembling dissimulation divine right droit due excuse facade face faculty fakery faking false air false front false show falsity feigned belief feigning feint flashiness flatulence flatulency four-flushing fraud front fulsomeness garishness gaudiness gilt gloss grandiloquence grandioseness grandiosity guise handle high-flown diction humbug humbuggery hypocrisy image imposture inalienable right inflatedness inflation insincerity interest lame excuse lexiphanicism locus standi loftiness lofty affectations luridness magniloquence make-believe mannerism mask masquerade mere rhetoric mere show meretriciousness natural right orotundity ostensible motive ostent ostentation ostentatious complexity ostentatiousness outward show pageant platitudinous ponderosity playacting polysyllabic profundity pomposity pompous prolixity pompousness pontification poor excuse pose posing posture power prerogative prescription presumptive right pretending pretense pretensions pretentiousness pretext proper claim property right prose run mad protestation prunes and prisms public image public motive put-off put-on putting on airs refuge representation rhetoric rhetoricalness right screen seeming semblance sensationalism sententiousness sham show showiness simulacrum simulation smoke screen speciousness stalking-horse stiltedness stratagem stylishness subterfuge swelling utterance swollen phrase swollenness tall talk title tortuosity tortuousness trick tumidity tumidness turgescence turgidity unnaturalness varnish veil vested interest vested right window dressing