Pretentious vs. Portentous — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Pretentious and Portentous
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Compare with Definitions
Pretentious
Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed
The pretentious jargon of wine experts
Pretentious art films
Portentous
Of or like a portent; of momentous significance
This portentous year in Canadian history
Pretentious
Claiming that or behaving as if one is important or deserving of merit when such is not the case
A pretentious socialite.
Portentous
Of the nature of or constituting a portent; foreboding
"The present aspect of society is portentous of great change" (Edward Bellamy).
Pretentious
Showing or betraying an attitude of superiority
Made pretentious remarks about his education.
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Portentous
Full of unspecifiable significance; exciting wonder and awe
"Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity" (Herman Melville).
Pretentious
Marked by an extravagant or presumptuous outward show; ostentatious
A pretentious house.
Portentous
Marked by pompousness; pretentiously weighty.
Pretentious
Intended to impress others.
Her dress was obviously more pretentious than comfortable.
Portentous
Of momentous or ominous significance.
Pretentious
Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction.
Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.
Portentous
Ominously prophetic.
Pretentious
Full of pretension; disposed to lay claim to more than is one's; presuming; assuming.
Portentous
Puffed up with vanity.
Pretentious
Making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction;
A pretentious country house
A pretentious fraud
A pretentious scholarly edition
Portentous
Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous.
For, I believe, they are portentous things.
Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor.
Pretentious
Intended to attract notice and impress others;
An ostentatious sable coat
Portentous
Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size.
Pretentious
Of a display that is tawdry or vulgar
Portentous
Of momentous or ominous significance;
Such a portentous...monster raised all my curiosity
A prodigious vision
Portentous
Of ominous significance
Portentous
Puffed up with vanity;
A grandiloquent and boastful manner
Overblown oratory
A pompous speech
Pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey
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