pretext
42
6.7
- noun
- /ˈpriːtɛkst/
:
pretexto
- The manager's insistence on early departures was merely a pretext for implementing layoffs.
- serve as a pretext
- a pretext to search
- use as a pretext
So instead, they find other pretexts for, for punishing people.
- So instead, they find other pretexts for, for punishing people.
- Twitter's lawyers said that Musk's claims were pretexts and lack any merit.
- The evil is merely A pretext for the criticism, right?
- I was invited onto a Zoom call under the pretext of discussing the upcoming season.
- The next thing is to arrest him, find, you know, find pretexts to arrest him and put him in prison.
- And the, the day, the day gig, the day job is just a pretext for being able to do that.
- And so I consider the enthusiasm for solar and wind to be a pretext for just hostility toward energy as such.
- He claimed stoicism as a pretext for what he had done in the workplace and why it was OK for him to do it.
- And after digging into that book, I then had the pretext of the podcast to use to reach out to Tara and say, would you like to put a podcast?
Examples
-
I was invited onto a Zoom call under the pretext of discussing the upcoming season.
-
I want to talk about pretexts, lying and cheating.
-
If you could just find some kind of pretext to make a clean break.
Fiction book (1996) -
I could, in fact, simply call them up and ask on some pretext or other.
Fiction book (2002) -
And I'm going to use these questions as a pretext to kind of push in a little bit of theory.
-
On some pretext, you must lead him aside to speak perhaps of what you heard at Lepidus' house tonight.
-
You thought Bunny had been kidnapped and you could use it as a pretext to make some money disappear.
Fiction book (1998) -
I could use the pretext that I'm new and that the school meetings were snowed out.
Fiction book (1993) -
The simple visual or literary anecdote is merely the pretext for an opening onto a greater reality.
Academic text (1993) -
Tehran's religious claims serve as pretexts for its political and strategic designs.
Academic text (1995)
Synonyms
65
6.1
A false claim or action to hide the truth
54
7.5
An appearance that hides the truth to trick people
52
3.7
An excuse a person gives to avoid blame for not doing something
19
9.5
A trick or excuse to hide the real reason
19
7.4
Actions that hide the truth by making things look better
9
7.1
An action or statement that hides the real reason behind something
8
6.8
A false appearance that hides someone's true feelings or plans
4
6.3
An invented story or plan made to trick people
1
9.9
A person or thing used to hide someone's real plan
Antonyms
How Convincing
42
6.7
53
7.7
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pretext comes from Latin parts prae- 'before' and texere 'to weave', so it originally meant a 'woven' cover put before the truth. That's why a pretext is a false reason or excuse that hides the real motive.