Pretender, n.
1. One who lays claim, or asserts a title (to something); a claimant. Specifically,
The pretender (Eng. Hist.), the son or the grandson of James II., the heir of the royal family of Stuart, who laid claim to the throne of Great Britain, from which the house was excluded by law. It is the shallow, unimproved intellects that are the confident pretenders to certainty. Glanvill.
2. One who pretends, simulates, or feigns.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for pretender; he lists it under hypocrite.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.
Antonyms
none given