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.

Instead he uses the war as a pretext for urging modern Britain to “accelerate munitions production” in preparation for a “European War” whose antagonists remain largely unspecified.

From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026

Circuit Court of Appeals, answered that whatever more detailed pretext arguments Pitchford later developed on appeal were waived because his defense attorney did not present them to the trial judge at the crucial moment.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

Prosecutors say the first team of Russian operatives arrived in Angola's capital, Luanda, in 2024 under the pretext of opening a Russian cultural centre, a project that never materialised.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 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

It just about shattered every defense mechanism and every pretext I had against going to school.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane