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

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

“I guess it can be seen as a pretext for the album. Just … be sweet,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

"He was intelligent, spellbinding. I knew in my bones that here was an opportunity to do some work. I needed only some kind of pretext to make contact with him."

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

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

Actions over the Fed building were "pretexts", he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026

"The pretexts used to justify such actions are untenable. Ideological hostility has triumphed over businesslike pragmatism," it added.

From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026

The pretexts are flimsy; due process is absent, and mistakes have already been made.

From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2025

Thus the Red and White Roses were united and the pretexts for civil war done away with.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various