Pretension means claiming to be more important, skilled, or knowledgeable than you actually are. When someone has pretensions, they're putting on airs or acting like they're something they're not.

A person with pretensions might use fancy words they don't fully understand to sound smarter, or drop names of famous people to seem more connected and important. They might talk about expensive things they own (or wish they owned) to impress others. Someone with artistic pretensions acts like a great artist without putting in the real work to develop their craft.

The word often carries a hint of phoniness. There's a difference between genuine confidence and pretension: a truly skilled musician simply plays well, while someone with pretensions might lecture others about music theory they barely grasp, or constantly name-drop famous composers.

You might describe a restaurant as having pretensions if it acts fancier than its food deserves, with elaborate menus and stuffy service but mediocre meals. Or you might say a movie is pretentious if it tries too hard to seem deep and meaningful without actually saying anything interesting.