pretext (redirected from pretexts)

pretext noun affectation, alibi, alleged purpose, alleged reason, camouflage, charade, claim, cover, defense, disguise, evasion, excuse, fabrication, false appearance, false ground, false motive, false pretense, false reason, false show, falsification, feint, fraud, guise, invention, justification, lie, make-believe, mask, misstatement, obfuscation, ostensible motive, ostensible purpose, ostensible reason, praetextum, pretense, pretension, professed purpose, profession, ruse, sham, shift, show, simulation, species, stratagem, subterfuge, trick, trickery, untruth, wile
Foreign phrases: Praetextu liciti non debet admitti illiciium.That which is illegal ought not to be permitted under a pretext of legality.

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See also: artifice, bad faith, color, deception, disguise, evasion, excuse, false pretense, falsehood, ruse, stratagem, subterfuge

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PRETEXT. The reasons assigned to justify an act, which have only the appearance of truth, and which are without foundation; or which if true are not the true reasons for such act. Vattel, liv. 3, c. 3, 32.