pretense

Noun

• an artful or simulated semblance
  • under the guise of friendship he betrayed them
    

• a false or unsupportable quality

• imaginative intellectual play

• pretending with intention to deceive

• the act of giving a false appearance
  • his conformity was only pretending
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  guise , pretence , pretext , pretension , make-believe , feigning , dissembling , pretending , simulation