Also means
claimant; candidate
Usage Note
Pretendiente is a common-gender noun — el pretendiente (male suitor) and la pretendiente (female candidate or claimant) — though the romantic sense ('suitor, admirer') applies most often to males. In politics it means a claimant to a throne: pretendiente al trono. The verb pretender does NOT mean 'to pretend' (a false friend); it means 'to claim, to seek, to aspire to'.
Examples
"El pretendiente le llevó flores cada semana."
Natural Translation
The suitor brought her flowers every week.

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