pretext

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

Clement’s lawyer said in a statement that the report found against her “on the pretext of ‘perception,’ the source of which was rumour, gossip and innuendo.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

“We’re worried this is a pretext for people to fall out of the asylum system and fall out of the workforce,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

But some industry watchers say firms are using the technology as a pretext for other cost-cutting.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

I stop Peeta’s practice, on the pretext of showing him how to rid himself of the itchy scabs, and as we scrub ourselves, I bring up our escape.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

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

The same month Iraq's embassy in Moscow warned of "attempts to lure or coerce some Iraqis residing in Russia or abroad into joining the war under various pretexts".

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025

The pretexts are flimsy; due process is absent, and mistakes have already been made.

From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2025

"All these facts, said they, are so public and so notorious that there are no means or pretexts for disavowing them."

From Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Thomas Keightley