pretext

English

Etymology

From French prétexte, 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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːtɛkst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧text

Noun

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, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Hvmovr. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, OCLC 960101342, 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.

   • 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^[1], 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

false, contrived or assumed purpose

• Armenian: պատրվակ (hy) (patrvak)
• Azerbaijani: bəhanə (az)
• Catalan: pretext m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 借口 (zh) (jièkǒu)

• Czech: záminka (cs) f
• Danish: påskud (da) n
• Dutch: voorwendsel (nl) n, drogreden (nl) f, dekmantel (nl) m, schijnreden f, pretext (nl) m
• Finnish: tekosyy (fi), veruke (fi)
• French: prétexte (fr)
• German: Vorwand (de) m, Deckmantel (de) m, fadenscheinige Begründung f, Ausrede (de) f, Scheingrund m, Schein (de) m, Ausflucht (de) f, Prätext m, angeblicher Grund m, vorgespiegelter Grund m
• Greek:

  Ancient: πρόφασις f (próphasis), σκῆψις f (skêpsis)

• Hungarian: ürügy (hu), kifogás (hu)

• Icelandic: yfirskin n
• Italian: pretesto (it) m, scusante (it) f
• Latin: praetextum n
• Maori: takunga, takutakunga, takunetanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: påskudd (no) n, påskott n

  Nynorsk: påskott n, påskot n

• Polish: wymówka (pl) f, pretekst (pl) m
• Portuguese: pretexto (pt) m
• Russian: по́вод (ru) m (póvod), предло́г (ru) m (predlóg)
• Sanskrit: अपदेश (sa) m (apadeśa)
• Scottish Gaelic: leisgeul m
• Serbo-Croatian: izgovor (sh), izlika
• Sicilian: scaciuni f
• Spanish: pretexto (es) m
• Swedish: svepskäl (sv) n, undanflykt (sv) c, förevändning (sv) c
• Tocharian B: ṣewi

Verb

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:

     ... 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....

Synonyms

• blag (UK)

Translations

employ a pretext

• German: etwas vorgeben, einen Vorwand verwenden, etwas vorschützen, etwas vorspiegeln, so tun, als ob
• Hebrew: אמתלה‎ (he) (amátlah)

• Maori: whakataruna

See also

• Social engineering on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• pretext in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pretext in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.