Synonyms for pretext
ˈpri tɛkstpre·text

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. pretextverb

   Synonyms:
   blag

2. pretextverb

   To employ a pretext, which involves using a false or contrived purpose for soliciting the gain of something else.

   The spy obtained his phone records using possibly-illegal pretexting methods.

   Synonyms:
   blag

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pretext

   A pretense, in the unfavorable, which is also the usual sense, is something advanced or displayed for the purpose of concealing the reality. A person makes a pretense of something for the credit or advantage to be gained by it; he makes what is allowed or approved a pretext for doing what would be opposed or condemned; a tricky schoolboy makes a pretense of doing an errand which he does not do, or he makes the actual doing of an errand a pretext for playing truant. A ruse is something (especially something slight or petty) employed to blind or deceive so as to mask an ulterior design, and enable a person to gain some end that he would not be allowed to approach directly. A pretension is a claim that is or may be contested; the word is now commonly used in an unfavorable sense. Compare ARTIFICE; HYPOCRISY.

   Synonyms:
   affectation, air, assumption, cloak, color, disguise, dissimulation, excuse, mask, pretense, pretension, ruse, seeming, semblance, show, simulation, subterfuge, trick, wile

   Antonyms:
   actuality, candor, fact, frankness, guilelessness, honesty, ingenuousness, openness, reality, simplicity, sincerity, truth

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretext, stalking-horsenoun

   something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason

   Synonyms:
   pretence, guise, stalking-horse, pretense

2. guise, pretense, pretence, pretextnoun

   an artful or simulated semblance

   "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"

   Synonyms:
   pretending, pretence, simulation, pretense, pretension, feigning, guise, make-believe, stalking-horse, dissembling

Matched Categories

1. • Pretense
   • Semblance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pretextnoun

   Synonyms:
   show (to conceal a thing done), appearance, affectation, simulation, mask, color, PRETENCE

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "pretext":

   excuse, guise, pretence, alibi, pretense, cloak

How to pronounce pretext?

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How to use pretext in a sentence?

1. John Kirby:

   We do have information that the Russians are likely to want to fabricate a pretext for an invasion, which, again, is right out of their playbook.

2. President Barack Obama:

   If, in fact, we defend the legal right of a person to insult another's religion, we're equally obligated to use our free speech to condemn such insults and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with religious communities, particularly religious minorities who are the targets of such attacks, to infringe on one right under the pretext of protecting another is a betrayal of both.

3. Proverb:

   On every small pretext the wolf seizes the sheep.

4. Zhao Lijian:

   What the U.S. did proves that the so-called democracy summit is just a pretext and tool for it to pursue geopolitical goals, suppress other countries, divide the world, serve its own interest and maintain its hegemony in the world.

5. Charles Cooper:

   This is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public import. This attempt will not succeed, and Mr. Bolton's book will be published June 23.