pretext

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Again, the pretext was a divergence over how to secure a new deal for Quebec within Canada.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An ostensible or professed purpose; an excuse.
  2. noun An effort or strategy intended to conceal something.
  3. transitive verb To allege as an excuse.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • These all marched to Lecompton, where they held themselves in readiness to act, as soon as a pretext could be found invoking their help. —  Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler
  • A pretext was required, to be always advancing, and this pretext was the liberty of the seas. —  Ten Years' Exile
  • "Using national security as a pretext, the Bush administration managed to suppress these memos for more than three years, denying the public crucial information about government policy and shielding government officials from accountability," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's National Security Project said in a released statement. —  AfterDowningStreet.org - Bush-Cheney Trials in '09
  • Using national security as a pretext, the Bush administration managed to suppress these memos for years, denying the public crucial information about government policy and shielding government officials from accountability. —  ACLU online newsroom
  • As such, the raising of the fees under any pretext which is not genuine should be condemned by all. —  The Himalayan Times RSS
 

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

pretence ·  excuse ·  pretense ·  subterfuge ·  plea ·  justification ·  motive ·  apology ·  objection ·  disguise ·  ground ·  errand

Used in the same contextWord Family

pretext:   pretexts
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin praetextum, from neuter past participle of praetexere, to disguise : prae-, pre- + texere, to weave; see teks- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from French prétexte = Spanish Portuguese pretexto = Italian pretesto, from Latin prætextum, an ornament, etc., wrought in front, a pretense, neuter of prætextus, past participle of prætexere, weave before, fringe or border, allege: see pretex.
  2. from pretext, n.
 

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/ˈpritɛkst/
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