pretext
Americannoun
-
pretexts
plural
-
something that is put forward to conceal a true purpose or object; an ostensible reason; excuse.
The leaders used the insults as a pretext to declare war.
-
the misleading appearance or behavior assumed with this intention.
His many lavish compliments were a pretext for subtle mockery.
- Synonyms:
- evasion, subterfuge
noun
-
a fictitious reason given in order to conceal the real one
-
a specious excuse; pretence
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pretext
1505–15; < Latin praetextum pretext, ornament, noun use of neuter past participle of praetexere to pretend, literally, to weave in front, hence, adorn. See pre-, texture
Explanation
Pretext is a false reason given for doing something. If you catch your mother going through your drawers, and she says she was just tidying up, cleaning was her pretext for snooping. Sometimes a government will try to take away its citizens' rights under the pretext of national security. Though pretext sounds like text that comes before other text, the text you see in it is actually more closely related to the word textile, meaning fabric. Its Latin root meant pretty much "to pull the wool over someone's eyes."
Vocabulary lists containing pretext
Animal Farm
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Grade 11, List 2
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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.
See Examples For:
The findings of a second report — which reviewed pretext stops by officers from other units in January — are expected to be presented at an upcoming commission meeting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
She believed they were duped by the daughter of ex-president Jacob Zuma under the pretext of attending a personal development course in Russia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The parties “worked in tandem and were never actually adverse,” she wrote, calling the lawsuit a pretext for a settlement “that had no viable basis in law or fact.”
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
The man had been called into the local police station on the pretext of checking his personal data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Hermione allowed Travers to step ahead of her on the pretext of explaining features of the hall to Ron.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
No surprise, the panel agreed with him and concocted pretexts to kill the treatment—for instance, the staff opined that maybe biopsies had zapped the tumors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
He is facing his own criminal probe related to cost overruns during renovations of Fed properties - concerns he has called "pretexts".
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
He dismissed the possible threat of a criminal indictment over his testimony or the renovation project as "pretexts."
From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026
The pretexts are flimsy; due process is absent, and mistakes have already been made.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2025
But even those who were possessed of property lived the life of beggars, as otherwise the mandarins would have confiscated it under various pretexts.
From Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and Luskod by P?ter Vay
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
