pretext.
A false, contrived, or assumed purpose or reason; a pretense.
Meaning & usage
A false, contrived, or assumed purpose or reason; a pretense.
The reporter called the company on the pretext of trying to resolve a consumer complaint.
Where this word comes from
From Latin praetextum (“an ornament, etc., wrought in front, a pretense”), neuter of praetextus, past participle of praetexere (“to weave before, fringe or border, allege”).
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.
Where this word comes from
From Latin praetextum (“an ornament, etc., wrought in front, a pretense”), neuter of praetextus, past participle of praetexere (“to weave before, fringe or border, allege”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.