It was an ill done portrait, and gave an affected thoughtfulness and elevation to his calm features which imparted insufferablepretension to them; Calvert held out the picture at arm's length, and laughed scornfully as he looked at it.
He need not make pretension to infallibility, but we expect of him the absolute veracity of his sacred calling and learning.
These places are not entirely without a pretension to magnificence; but, considered in reference to what is desirable in landscape gardening, they are the very laid idéal of deformity.
He would not submit to such a pretension on the part of the minister of any power on earth.
This pretension gave rise to a good deal of heartburning and contention.
Leaving to the reader to determine how far I have succeeded in my efforts, I merely wish to add that I make no pretension to literary style, but have aimed to produce a practical work for practical men.
Threepenny skelp iron" is made from an inferior quality of scrap to that from which "charcoal iron" is made; but unlike it, there is no pretension of quality.
There was no pretension about this breakfast, but what there was of it was good; certainly the ventilation was perfect.
They can understand what is plain and free from pretension and affectation, but the least shade of what is artificial and strained repels them.
It is a shallow and unwisepretension which would ignore the fact.
Twenty years ago, people of taste and pretension to archaeological knowledge furnished their houses in the Elizabethan style, with the result of uncomfortable furniture abounding in anachronisms.
This very pretension was anticipated by Mr. Madison, and condemned in advance.
Sir, it is hard to treat this pretensionwith composure.
The pretension was perfect in form, but essentially absurd.
But Andrew Jackson never put forth the pretension that it was within his prerogative to nullify a statute which had been passed over his veto in the way prescribed by the National Constitution.
The third pretension has disappeared only so far as it denied the power of the Nation over Slavery in the Territories; and we are still doomed to hear, in the name of State Rights, the old cry against conditions upon new States.
I insist only that the victory achieved in the Constitution by the small States shall not be made the apology for a pretension inconsistent with Human Rights.
Senators pledged to Freedom take up the old pretension and swear it anew.
Like unto the pretension founded on a misinterpretation of “qualifications” is that other founded on a misinterpretation of the asserted power of a State to make “regulations.
If this pretension ever found favor, it was from the partisans of Slavery and State Rights, who, assured of the sympathy of the Court, sought in this way to complete an unjust triumph.
It has been fully, deliberately, and thoroughly investigated, and the Government of the United States is under the entire and solemn conviction that the pretension of France is utterly unfounded.
The pretension to it, however, under that branch has never been set up.
It is possessed and exercised by the States individually, and it must be possessed by the United States or the pretension must be abandoned.
The absurdity of such a pretension must be apparent to all who examine it.
For when once that is defined, the mediaeval pretension of the Pope to dominion over kings and nations, even in secular matters, which has never been abandoned, is thereby also raised to the rank of an article of divine faith.
It does not disclose the whole truth; for it does not exhibit the unique and exceptional character of the pretensionwhich we combat.
The whole execrable pretension of “property in men,” wherever it now shows its audacious front, will be driven back into kindred night.
How much given for ransom from the pretension to rob a human being of his toil and all its fruits?
The whole pretension is a preposterous absurdity, by which the country has been too much deceived.
How much shall be paid for the controlling pretension of property in man?
The circumstances were so exceptional, that this case cannot be cited to determine our conduct toward a State which in all its parts, throughout its whole jurisdiction, accepted the pretension of secession, and maintained it by arms.
How much allowed for that other pretension to shut the gates of knowledge, and keep the victim from the Book of Life?
Freedom already declared must be secured completely, so that it may not fail through any pretension or fraud of wicked men.
But this pretension is only a further outgrowth of that appalling tyranny which begins by denying the right of a man to himself.
Convicts and wretches who had set at nought all rights of property and all decency were the very people to set up the revolting pretension “of property in man.
While all this cumulative evidence shows that the settlers did better in Virginia than in England, it fails to support the Rebel pretension of to-day.
With all their learning, all their subtlety, all their sharpness, this is what they have to say in behalf of an infamous pretension under the National Constitution.
And yet this is the argument of Senators who set up the pretension of plighted faith.
The pretension that under such authority this great wrong may be done is another illustration of that extravagance which the champions do not shrink from avowing.
In the face of the National Constitution, interpreted, first by itself, and then by the Declaration of Independence, how can this pretension prevail?
Of course this whole pretension is a technicality set up against Human Rights.
The same judgment must be pronounced on the attempt to found this outrage upon the power to make “regulations,”--as if this word had not a limited signification which renders such a pretension impossible.
My language was as follows:-- “As the national peace and tranquillity depend essentially upon the overthrow of monopoly and tyranny, here is another occasion for special guaranty against the whole pretension of color.
On the recognition of belligerence there is much latitude of opinion,--some asserting that a nation may take this step whenever it pleases; but this pretension excludes the idea that belligerence is always a question of fact on the evidence.
Against this lofty recognition of a common humanity, how mean the pretension of Caste!
You mean that what was only a fair and reasonable assumption in you was an absurd pretension in me, Miss Barrington; is it not so?
In both it is a pretension on the part of a foreign power, to look into the antecedents of a ship of war--neither more nor less in the one case than in the other.
The pretension would be an insult to your Government.
His pretension to have lived for so many centuries naturally exposed him to some puzzling questions, as to the appearance, life, and conversation of the great men of former days; but he was never at a loss for an answer.
Such a pretension could not be made by any priest or bishop of the Catholic Church, however valid may be his orders.
In this there is no pretension that the Apostles were the reconcilers by inherent right; theirs is an agency of reconciliation, and hence does St. Paul speak of their as ambassadors of Christ.
But there is no ground for discouragement, or for any but good hopes, although ignorance and pretension stand in high places, and vainly babble concerning things beautiful and profound.
It is impossible to see insolent and vulgar pretension in noisy triumph, while real and unobtrusive merit is neglected.
It seems to me that an infinity of money must be spent in these trifles by those who make the least pretension to keep in the fashion.
In her works there was no pretension to literary style; they were sermons on morals, characterized by discretion and simplicity, dignity and persuasiveness, seriousness and earnestness; Napoleon placed her letters above those of Mme.
There was no pretension to truth in the portraying of manners and customs.
The bon-mot of Olympias on thispretension of her son Alexander, was admired by the ancients.
The Djemshidi insist that they spring from Djemshid, the fabulous king of the Pishdadian family--a pretension naturally subject to doubt!
Architecturally, the church of St. John has no pretension whatever, either inside or out, though its proportions are very grand.
With the exception of the old Moorish castle which overlooks the town, there is not a single edifice in Gibraltar with any pretension to architectural merit or antiquarian interest.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "pretension" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
