pretext

In February, when Russia opened a case against him, Durov described it as a pretext to restrict Russians’ privacy and free speech.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 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

“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

Under the pretext of holding up a measuring cup to see if he’d poured out enough armadillo bile, Harry sneaked a sidelong glance at the pair of them.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" 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

All three were formally censured, under various pretexts, in company with John Quincy Adams, at this and other gatherings of the Garrisonians.

From Liberty In The Nineteenth Century by Frederic May Holland