You searched for: “pretense”
pretense (s) (noun), pretenses (pl)
1. A false appearance or action that is designed to deceive another person or people: The killing in the drama looked real; however, it was obviously only a pretense.

Jacob called Sally under the pretense of asking her about the homework assignment in the biology class, but it was not the real reason he called her because he just wanted to have a conversation with her.
2. Etymology: from Latin praetensus, "false claim" from prae- "before" + tendere, "to stretch".

A make-believe or.
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This entry is located in the following unit: tend-, tendo-, ten-, teno-, tenot-, tenonto-, tens-, tent-, -tend, -tension, -tent, -tense, -tensive, -tentious (page 7)