What does prétention in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word prétention in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use prétention in French.

The word prétention in French means pretension, pretentiousness, ambition, aim, objective, hope, flashiness, claim, expectations, without pretension, unassumingly, unpretentiously. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word prétention

pretension, pretentiousness

nom féminin (fait d'être prétentieux)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sa prétention et son arrogance m'insupportent au plus haut point.
I find his pretension (or: pretentiousness) and arrogance utterly unbearable.

ambition, aim, objective

nom féminin (volonté marquée)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sa prétention est de devenir directeur de la société.
His ambition is to become director of the company.

hope

nom féminin (espoir)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Malgré son âge avancé, elle avait encore la prétention de pouvoir séduire.
Despite her advanced years, she still entertained a hope that she could pull.

flashiness

nom féminin (ostentation) (informal)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Frédéric ne peut rien faire avec discrétion, il y a de la prétention dans tout ce qu'il entreprend.

claim

nom féminin (revendication)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sa prétention à cette part d'héritage paraît justifiée.
His claim to this share of the inheritance seems justified.

expectations

nom féminin pluriel (exigence de salaire)

(plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors.")
Ses prétentions de salaire sont exorbitantes. Et quelles sont vos prétentions pour ce poste ?
And what is your expected salary for this position?

without pretension

locution adjectivale (humble, modeste)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Il habite à la campagne une maison sans prétention.

unassumingly, unpretentiously

locution adverbiale (humblement, modestement)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")

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So now that you know more about the meaning of prétention in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

Do you know about French

French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.