Synonyms for pretext
ˈpri tɛkstpre·text

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. pretextverb

   Synonyms:
   blag

2. pretextverb

   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.

   Synonyms:
   blag

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretext

   A pretense, in the unfavorable, which is also the usual sense, is something advanced or displayed for the purpose of concealing the reality. A person makes a pretense of something for the credit or advantage to be gained by it; he makes what is allowed or approved a pretext for doing what would be opposed or condemned; a tricky schoolboy makes a pretense of doing an errand which he does not do, or he makes the actual doing of an errand a pretext for playing truant. A ruse is something (especially something slight or petty) employed to blind or deceive so as to mask an ulterior design, and enable a person to gain some end that he would not be allowed to approach directly. A pretension is a claim that is or may be contested; the word is now commonly used in an unfavorable sense. Compare ARTIFICE; HYPOCRISY.

   Synonyms:
   affectation, air, assumption, cloak, color, disguise, dissimulation, excuse, mask, pretense, pretension, ruse, seeming, semblance, show, simulation, subterfuge, trick, wile

   Antonyms:
   actuality, candor, fact, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, ingenuousness, openness, reality, simplicity, sincerity, truth

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretext, stalking-horsenoun

   something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason

   Synonyms:
   pretence, guise, stalking-horse, pretense

2. guise, pretense, pretence, pretextnoun

   an artful or simulated semblance

   "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretence, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, guise, make-believe, stalking-horse, dissembling

Matched Categories

1. • Pretense
   • Semblance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretextnoun

   Synonyms:
   show (to conceal a thing done), appearance, affectation, simulation, mask, color, PRETENCE

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "pretext":

   excuse, guise, pretence, alibi, pretense, cloak

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How to use pretext in a sentence?

1. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko:

   On May 8, for the first time, the people of Ukraine will join the European tradition to commemorate the victims of World War Two, the very next day in Moscow, under the pretext of the Great Victory, the aggressor's army will brandish its lethal might in front of the world. Some of the units were in Donetsk a few days ago and soon they will appear on the military parade in Moscow.

2. Hanan Ashrawi:

   Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it, this should be a reason for a real and effective intervention by the international community to end such a flagrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace.

3. Eric Schmitt:

   Unfortunately, the Biden DOJ has used this lawsuit as a pretext for them to pull the plug on our successful and innovative federal-state crime-fighting partnership, the Safer Streets Initiative, since I launched the Safer Streets Initiative in 2019, we’ve filed over 650 charges against nearly 390 defendants with a conviction rate of roughly 98%. My Office has fought to continue the initiative, but this initiative has been suspended solely because of the Biden Administration’s actions.

4. Michele Hunter:

   Meat-eaters are not a protected class under constitutional law, so they would not be able to raise a discrimination claim unless they could link to ‘ disparate impact, ’ meaning that landlords say they’re screening out meat-eaters but it’s actually a pretext for screening out people of color or a particular gender.

5. Zhao Lijian:

   I think the U.S. cares nothing about human rights, it is only using this as a pretext to oppress Chinese companies, destabilize Xinjiang and slander China's Xinjiang policy.