pretense

Any pretense at acceptance has long been discarded.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

She suggests crafting messages that offer the pretense of networking while preserving ambiguity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

“We sincerely hope that this review is not merely a pretense for removing California’s ability to hold public hearings on offshore oil and gas projects,” said Kate Huckelbridge, executive director of the Coastal Commission.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

It is supplying the constitutional context and stripping away the pretense courts so often cling to when they want to stay out of the fray.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

And the pretense of sliding her hand past the raft and almost slipping underwater herself.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

States have resorted to Rube Goldberg-like schemes to obtain drugs from abroad, sometimes under false pretenses, or have used drugs that are expired or improperly stored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Barofsky said Fain declared under false pretenses that Boyer had been derelict in his duties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

Meanwhile, Lori, a young Black woman hired under false pretenses as an assistant, stares mutely.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

“In cases where people buy properties sight unseen, it would be a stronger case that they made that contract under misleading pretenses and for it to be null and void,” Leben said.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald