Wiktionary

pretext

English

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Etymology

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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”).[1]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈpɹiːtɛkst/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːtɛkst
  • Hyphenation: pre‧text

Noun

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pretext (plural pretexts)

  1. A false, contrived, or assumed purpose or reason; a pretense.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pretext
    The reporter called the company on the pretext of trying to resolve a consumer complaint.
    • 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 21:
      [T]hey would ſay [...] that I had quarrell'd / My brother purpoſely, thereby to finde / An apt pretext, to baniſh them my houſe.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 69:
      "After all," said the Chevalier, "these portraits—Madame de I'Hôpital's fortune-telling—the pleasure we take in a lover or a physician—may all be referred to the same cause,—we do so enjoy talking about ourselves; and yet we feel some sort of excuse necessary. It must be admitted, that we are ready in pretexts."
    • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
      On every kind of pretext she would run away from work [...]
    • 1996, Jacques Gernet, translated by J. R. Foster and Charles Hartman, A History of Chinese Civilization‎[1], 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 580:
      The smallest incidents were to serve as pretexts for demonstrations of force and for demands for indemnities and reparations which increased China's subjection.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): ‘New Kid on the Block’ [season 4, episode 8; originally aired 12 November 1992]”, in The A.V. Club‎[2], archived from the original on 18 September 2020:
      When that metaphor proves untenable, he switches to insisting that women are like beer but that’s mainly as a pretext to drink until he passes out in a father-son bonding haze.

Translations

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Verb

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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pretext (third-person singular simple present pretexts, present participle pretexting, simple past and past participle pretexted)

  1. 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.
    • 1903, Henry James, The Ambassadors‎[3]:
      […] the something in the air of these establishments; the vibration of the vast, strange life of the town; the influence of the types, the performers, concocting their messages; the little prompt Paris women arranging, pretexting goodness knew what, driving the dreadful needle-pointed public pen at the dreadful sand-strewn public table […]
    • 1970 August 12 [1969 January 15], John Womack, Jr., Zapata and the Mexican Revolution‎[4], New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 261:
      Not all the surviving veteran chiefs would actually fight. Some remained nominally in the resistance but in practice delayed at their bases, pretexting a lack of ammunition for their uncertain inertia.

Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “pretext, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French prétexte.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pretext n (plural pretexte)

  1. pretext

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative pretext pretextul pretexte pretextele
genitive-dative pretext pretextului pretexte pretextelor
vocative pretextule pretextelor

Swedish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin praetextum. First attested in 1617.[1]

Noun

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pretext c

  1. (archaic) pretext
    Synonyms: förevändning, svepskäl, täckmantel, undanflykt
    • 1705 September 6, Robert Petre (the younger), edited by August Quennerstedt, Robert Petrés dagbok ifrån år 1702 till slaget vid Pultava (diary), published 1901, page 83:
      […] om deri skulle finnas något gewehr och amunition, som war emoth accord, men under prætext der af togz bårt, wad dem anstod och blänkte för deras ögon, […]
      […] if there should be any rifle and ammunition therein, who were against accord, but under the pretext of which was taken away, what suited them and shone before their eyes, […]
    • 1897 December 7, August Strindberg, edited by Torsten Eklund, August Strindbergs brev. 12. December 1896–augusti 1898 (letter), Till Emil Kléen, page 231:
      Skalden, hvilken har journalismen som näringsfång borde medan han är jemförelsevis ung göra en studieresa till Europens hufvudstad, Paris; t.ex. under pretext studera journalism och telegrambyråkratism.
      The poet, who has journalism as a livelihood, while he is comparatively young, should make a study trip to the capital of Europe, Paris; for example under the pretext of studying journalism and telegram bureaucracy.

Declension

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Declension of pretext
nominative genitive
singular indefinite pretext pretexts
definite pretexten pretextens
plural indefinite pretexter pretexters
definite pretexterna pretexternas

References

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  1. ^ pretext in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
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