pretext

Filmon Eyob, a co-ordinator within Nairobi's Eritrean community, agrees with concerns that the crackdown order will be used as pretext to harass foreigners.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

“As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 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

It’s a pretext for being a prima donna.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

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 Syrian foreign ministry denounced the attack as "an outrageous assault on Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and called Israel's justification "flimsy pretexts and fabricated excuses".

From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026

He dismissed the possible threat of 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

There was no need to ring for Jones; he found two pretexts an hour to come and gaze upon me.

From The King of Schnorrers Grotesques and Fantasies by Israel Zangwill