pretentious
/pɹɪˈtɛn.ʃəs/adjective
pretentious is spelled P-R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, pretentious means “Motivated by an inappropriate, excessive, or unjustified desire to impress others” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in pretentious?
| Letters | 11: P-R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 23,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is pretentious?
Pretentious appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pretentious?
- /pɹɪˈtɛn.ʃəs/
- /pɹɪˈtɛn.t͡ʃəs/
Pretentious has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pretentious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pretentious
- more pretentious comparative
- most pretentious superlative
- prætentious
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pretentious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Motivated by an inappropriate, excessive, or unjustified desire to impress others.
Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.
- 2
Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.
Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.
- 3
obsoleteMarked by pretense (not necessarily false pretense); intent upon success; ambitious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pretentious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prétentieux |
| German | protzig, prätentiös |
| Portuguese | armante, pretensioso |
| Spanish | pretencioso, pretensioso, comparón |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pretentious come from?
From French prétentieux, from prétention, from Latin praetēnsus (“false or hypocritical profession”), past participle of praetendō. Note that pretentious is spelled with a ‘t’, unlike related pretense, pretension. This is due to the French spelling: *-sious does not occur as an English suffix, though -sion and -tion both do.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).