pretext

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They were going to court for hearings they had to attend, then getting scooped up under a pretext that itself turned out to be a lie.

From Slate • Mar. 27, 2026

"The occupier, under the pretext of security and for its own interests, has closed the mosque," cleric Ayman Abu Najm, who had come from Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, said.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

For as long as index funds have existed, they’ve been under attack from competitors flinging one flimsy pretext after another.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

“It’s all pretext and obfuscation when the real agenda is rejecting conventional science and serving a predetermined anti-vaccine agenda,” Richard Hughes IV, a law professor at George Washington University, told The Guardian.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2026

The pose of chauffeur was convenient because I could travel under the pretext of driving my master’s car.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela