pretentious
- 1Driven by an inappropriate, excessive, or unjustified wish to impress others, or claiming an importance or distinction that is not deserved.
The restaurant's pretentious menu called a plain cheeseburger a "handcrafted beef experience."
Critics found the film pretentious, full of long silences and borrowed symbols.
Similarpompous, affected, showy, ostentatious, grandiose
Oppositeunpretentious, modest, unassuming, simple
Note
The charge is always that something claims more than it can back up, and the history fits: the word came from French prétentieux, ultimately from a Latin word for a false or hypocritical profession. It is said of people, but just as often of their things, such as a dress, a menu or a film. Mind the spelling: pretentious has a t, while its relatives pretense and pretension are written with an s.
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Origin
From French prétentieux, from prétention, from Latin praetēnsus, the past participle of praetendō. It is spelled with a t, unlike the related pretense and pretension, because of the French spelling: English has no suffix -sious, though it has both -sion and -tion.