pretext
A false, contrived, or assumed purpose or reason; a pretense.
Noun
- A false, contrived, or assumed purpose or reason; a pretense.
- The reporter called the company on the pretext of trying to resolve a consumer complaint.
- [T]hey would ſay [...] that I had quarrell'd / My brother purpoſely, thereby to finde / An apt pretext, to baniſh them my houſe. - 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in...
- "After all," said the Chevalier, "these portraits—Madame de I'Hôpital's fortune-telling—the pleasure we take in a lover or a physician—may all be referred to the same cause,—we do so enjoy talking about ourselves; and...
Origin
From Latin praetextum (“an ornament, etc., wrought in front, a pretense”), neuter of praetextus, past participle of praetexere (“to weave before, fringe or border, allege”).
Forms
Synonyms
alibi stall canard excuse plea pretense pretension pretext zhuangbility
Related
Derived
Verb
- To employ a pretext, which involves using a false or contrived purpose for soliciting the gain of something else.
- The spy obtained his phone records using possibly-illegal pretexting methods.
- […] the something in the air of these establishments; the vibration of the vast, strange life of the town; the influence of the types, the performers, concocting their messages; the little prompt Paris women arranging,...
- Not all the surviving veteran chiefs would actually fight. Some remained nominally in the resistance but in practice delayed at their bases, pretexting a lack of ammunition for their uncertain inertia. - 1970 August 12...