pretext
Example Sentences
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Jin Yong-sung, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, also ordered the military to "respond with firm resolve" should North Korea use Seoul's actions as a pretext for aggressive action.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 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 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
He even posed as a slave catcher named “James Olney,” prying slaves from jail on the pretext of delivering them to their masters.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
He has previously accused Russian authorities of "fabricating new pretexts to restrict Russians' access to Telegram".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
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
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
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 dispositions of his Catholic Majesty, and the candor of your Excellency, will leave no pretexts for misrepresentations.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Volume X (of 12) by Various
Vocabulary lists containing pretext
Animal Farm
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Grade 11, List 2
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