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Definition of "pretext" []

  • An ostensible or professed purpose; an excuse. (noun)
  • An effort or strategy intended to conceal something. (noun)
  • To allege as an excuse. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "pretext" in a sentence
  • "Valiavichareska said students never planned to disrupt finals, which she called a pretext for ousting the students."
  • "So the Inauguration, cause or pretext is as good a reason as any other to stop."
  • "They looked for that pretext from the first moment that they had the first excuse to."