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

“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

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

It would have been easier if Eduardo had come up to be a natural buffer for me, a screen, and perhaps also to provide the pretext by which I might depart.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

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

Her lawyer said in an email that the performance review “is further retaliation and an attempt to create further pretexts for the adverse employment actions the Board has already taken against her.”

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2024

It was thus, though under more specious pretexts, that the Athenian democracy sought to reduce the power of their great citizens by condemning them to build ships, give theatrical exhibitions, and otherwise spend their fortunes.

From Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Thomas Keightley