The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Pretence \Pre*tence"\, n., Pretenceful \Pre*tence"ful\, a.,
Pretenceless \Pre*tence"*less\, a.
   See Pretense, Pretenseful, Pretenseless.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Pretense \Pre*tense"\, Pretence \Pre*tence\, n. [LL. praetensus,
   for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and
   cf. Tension.]
   1. The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption;
      pretension. --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

            Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right
            of solely inheriting property or power. --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to
            the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. --Evelyn.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The act of holding out, or offering, to others something
      false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or
      hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and
      concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as,
      pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on
      pretense of revenging C[ae]sar's death.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That which is pretended; false, deceptive, or hypocritical
      show, argument, or reason; pretext; feint.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let not the Trojans, with a feigned pretense
            Of proffered peace, delude the Latian prince.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Intention; design. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            A very pretense and purpose of unkindness. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: See the Note under Offense.
         [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Mask; appearance; color; show; pretext; excuse.

   Usage: Pretense, Pretext. A pretense is something held
          out as real when it is not so, thus falsifying the
          truth. A pretext is something woven up in order to
          cover or conceal one's true motives, feelings, or
          reasons. Pretext is often, but not always, used in a
          bad sense.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

pretence
    n 1: a false or unsupportable quality [syn: pretension,
         pretense, pretence]
    2: an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of
       friendship he betrayed them" [syn: guise, pretense,
       pretence, pretext]
    3: pretending with intention to deceive [syn: pretense,
       pretence, feigning, dissembling]
    4: imaginative intellectual play [syn: pretense, pretence,
       make-believe]
    5: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was
       only pretending" [syn: pretense, pretence, pretending,
       simulation, feigning]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

46 Moby Thesaurus words for "pretence":
   airs, appearance, artifice, blind, camouflage, cloak, cover,
   cover-up, deception, disguise, display, dodge, excuse, fable,
   fabrication, facade, fairy tale, fakery, faking, falsification,
   feigning, fiction, figment, front, guise, hoax, humbug, humbuggery,
   hypocrisy, impression, invention, make-believe, mask, masquerade,
   ostentation, pose, posturing, pretending, pretension,
   pretentiousness, pretext, ruse, sham, show, story, veil