Pretense means pretending something is true when it isn't, or putting on a false appearance to deceive others. When someone acts under false pretenses, they're being deliberately misleading about who they are or what they're doing.

A student who pretends to be sick to avoid a test is operating under a pretense. A stranger who claims to be a school official but isn't is using pretense to gain trust. The word carries a sense of deception: it's not innocent make-believe or playing pretend, but rather a calculated act meant to fool someone.

Sometimes people drop all pretense, meaning they stop pretending and show their true feelings or intentions. If you've been acting polite to someone who's been bothering you, but finally tell them honestly how you feel, you've dropped the pretense.

The word can also describe something done as an excuse or cover story. If you ask to go to the library under the pretense of studying, but you really just want to meet your friends, you're using studying as a pretense. The key element is that pretense involves knowingly creating a false impression to achieve some goal or hide the truth.