pretext

The audit found that gang units citywide routinely flouted the department’s rules on pretext stops, including by often failing to obtain proper consent to search vehicles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

The man had been called into the local police station on the pretext of checking his personal data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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

Eventually, they flew her to Ahmedabad under the pretext of visiting a sick relative.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

We walked through Commons—I could hear the crash of plates overhead in the dining hall—and, on the pretext of having business on that end of campus, I walked on with Julian to the Lyceum.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

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

Poor fellow, what shallow pretexts would he stammer out for absenting himself from home, what despicable subterfuges to put off an audience!

From Barrington Volume I (of II) by Charles James Lever