The art critic dismissed the gallery's new exhibition as pretentious, noting that its obscure titles masked a lack of genuine innovation.
艺术评论家认为画廊的新展览自命不凡，指出其晦涩的标题掩盖了缺乏真正的创新。
Which choice best defines “pretentious”?
C — Trying to appear more important or clever than you are. “pretentious” means trying to appear more important or clever than you are.
Which word means “trying to appear more important or clever than you are”?
A — pretentious. “pretentious” means trying to appear more important or clever than you are.
pretentious — trying to appear more important or clever than you are. In Chinese: 自命不凡的，炫耀的.
pretentious is pronounced /prɪˈtɛnʃəs/.
The art critic dismissed the gallery's new exhibition as pretentious, noting that its obscure titles masked a lack of genuine innovation. (艺术评论家认为画廊的新展览自命不凡，指出其晦涩的标题掩盖了缺乏真正的创新。)
showy, ostentatious, affected — all close in meaning to pretentious (trying to appear more important or clever than you are).
modest, unassuming — each the opposite of pretentious (trying to appear more important or clever than you are).
Yes. pretentious is on the SAT Prep Easy list — mid-frequency academic words that do get tested. The Digital SAT does not test vocabulary in isolation; words like this one are tested through Words in Context questions, where you choose the word that completes a passage most logically and precisely.