From pretend + -er.

• IPA: /pɹɪˈtɛndəɹ/

pretender (plural pretenders)

1. (obsolete, rare) One who intends or purposes.
   • 1591, Percivall, Sp. Dict. :

     Pretensor, a pretender, he that purposeth.

   • 1598, Florio :

     Pretendente, a pretendent, a pretender, an intender, a meaner.

2. One who puts forth a claim, or who aspires to or aims at something; a claimant, candidate, or aspirant; now, one who makes baseless pretensions.
   • 1622, Mabbe, Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf 1.214:

     By how straight a Rule […] must that Pretender carry himselfe, who is to saile thorow the sea of this world, hoping for a fortune from another mans hand?

   • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon XXX”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC ↗, page 8 ↗:

     […] ; to consider the direct purposes of God against his enemies, rather than the sinister supplantations of pretenders to places in court; […]

   • 1646, H. Lawrence, Comm. Angells 116:

     Every one is a pretender and a runner; but few carry the prize.

   • 1766, William Blackstone, chapter 14, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC ↗, page 218 ↗:

     The issue of the eldest son excludes all other pretenders, as the son himself (if living) would have done.

   • 1780 May 25th, Johnson, Let. to Mrs. Thrale :

     A candidate for a school at Brewood in Staffordshire; to which, I think, there are seventeen pretenders.

   • 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter VII, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC ↗, book IV, page 238 ↗:

     I would sooner gain five thousand pounds by restoring you to your rights, than fifty thousand in establishing any of these pretenders in their base assumptions.

   1. (obsolete) One who aspires to the hand of a woman in marriage; a suitor, a wooer.
      • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  […], published 1634, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene v, page 1 ↗:

        He, of the two pretenders, that best loves me.

      • ante 1699, Lady Halkett, Autobiog. 17, (Camden):

        An Earles daughter, […] whose mother not allowing him to come as a pretender shee made apointmentt with him and mett him att her cousin’s howse.

      • 1728 (1732), Eliza Heywood, Mme. de Gomez’s Belle A. 2.235:

        It is not my design to dispose of Irene to the most noble, but most wealthy of the Pretenders to her Love.

   2. A claimant to a throne or the office of a ruler; originally in a neutral sense, but now always applied to a claimant who is held to have no just title.
      • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, page 125 ↗:

        If inteſtine Broils allarm the Hive, / (For two Pretenders oft for Empire ſtrive)

      • 1708 March 11th, Anne Regina, The Queen’s Speech to both Houses ↗, in The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons, volume IV: 1706–1713, London: Chandler (1742), § iv: “First Parliament of Great Britain”, page 92:

        I Think it necessary to acquaint you, that I have received Advices this Morning from Ostend, that the French Fleet sailed from Dunkirk, Tuesday at three in the Morning, Northward, with the Pretender on board; as also, that Sir George Byng had notice of it the same Day at ten: And he being very much superior to the Enemy both in Number and Strength, I make no question, but, by God’s Blessing, he will soon be able to give a good Account of them.

      • c. 1715, Burnet, Own Time 2.503:

        She [Q. Anne] also fixed a new Designation on the Pretended Prince of Wales, and called him the Pretender; he was so called in a new Set of Addresses […] upon this occasion […] made to the Queen.

      • 1824 June, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Redgauntlet, […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 238 ↗:

        the provost’s enemies at the council-table of the burgh used to observe that he uttered there many a bold harangue against the Pretender, and in favour of King George and government, of which he dared not have pronounced a syllable in his own bedchamber

      • 1827 (1876), Hallam, Const. Hist. 3.16.223:

        The pretender […] had friends in the tory government more sincere probably and zealous than [the earl of] Oxford.

      • 1845, S. Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref. 3.633:

        Wullenweber […] turned to the nearest protestant pretender, Duke Christian, and offered him his assistance to obtain the crown.

      • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 3, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗, page 442 ↗:

        Every province […] had its own Augustus. All these pretenders could not be rightful Emperors.

3. One who pretends or lays claim to something; one who makes a profession, show, or assertion, especially without adequate grounds, falsely, or with intent to deceive; a dissembler, deceiver, charlatan, hypocrite.
   • 1631 (first performance), Philip Massinger, The Emperour of the East. A Tragæ-comœdie. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Iohn Waterson, published 1632, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene i ↗:

     A pretender / To the art, I truely honor, and ſubſcribe / To your maieſties opinion.

   • 1631 May 17 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Philip Massinger, Believe as You List: A Tragedy (Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages. […]; XXVII), London: […] [F]or the Percy Society, by Richards, […], published 1849, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene i ↗:

     Make it a feast, and perfit your great injustice / In the surrendringe up this false pretender / To the correction of the law, […]

   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, chapter 18, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC ↗, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 89 ↗:

     But this pretence of Covenant with God, is so evident a lye, even in the pretenders own consciences, that it is not onely an act of an unjust, but also a vile, and unmanly disposition.

   • 1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Introduction to the Following Treatise”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC ↗, page xlv ↗:

     […] But, I answer; that it is not so easy an Acquirement as a few ignorant Pretenders may imagine.

   • 1782, William Cowper, “The Diverting History of John Gilpin, […]”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], published 1785, →OCLC ↗, page 492 ↗:

     That honour has been long The boast of mere pretenders to the name.

   • 1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “My Pedigree and Family.—Undergo the Influence of the Tender Passion.”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC ↗, page 3 ↗:

     I presume that there is no gentleman in Europe that has not heard of the house of Barry of Barryogue, of the kingdom of Ireland, than which a more famous name is not to be found in Gwillim or D’Hozier; and though, as a man of the world, I have learned to despise heartily the claims of some pretenders to high birth who have no more genealogy than the lacquey who cleans my boots, […]

   • 1848 (1850), Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art 122:

     Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural powers.

4. A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold.

   Synonyms: dissembler, flip-flopper, hypocrite, phony, Thesaurus:deceiver

• French: imposteur, imposteuse
• German: Betrüger, Betrügerin, Angeber, Angeberin, Heuchler, Heuchlerin
• Italian: impostore, mistificatore, simulatore
• Russian: притво́рщик
• Spanish: impostor, mentiroso, embustero, hipócrita, falso, grupiento

• French: prétendant, prétendante
• German: Anwärter, Anwärterin
• Italian: pretendente, aspirante, candidato
• Russian: претенде́нт
• Spanish: pretendiente

From pre- + tender.

pretender (pretenders, present participle pretendering; simple past and past participle pretendered)

1. (uncommon) To tender (a bid etc.) in advance.