pretext

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 FCC has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the stations’ licenses,” Disney’s attorneys wrote in the filing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

We narrowed the search for Jamal with several sources - one of them arranged a call with Jamal under a false pretext and recorded their conversation.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

We still see this in so many cases involving the Fourth Amendment, when police use the alleged smell of marijuana as a pretext for an illegal search.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 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

In his video statement Sunday, Powell dismissed the renovation and testimony as "pretexts".

From Barron's ● Jan. 13, 2026

Actions over the Fed building were "pretexts", he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026

In Philadelphia, for example, after the aforementioned drop in citations, the city decided to phase out police enforcement of minor traffic violations, including dubious pretexts like “rearview mirror decorations.”

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023

The elderly maid of the Duchess, and the gardener's wife who looked after the cooking, passed them repeatedly on various pretexts.

From The Enemies of Women (Los enemigos de la mujer) by Vicente Blasco Ib??ez