pretext

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”).

noun

1. 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.
   The smallest incidents were to serve as pretexts for demonstrations of force and for demands for indemnities and reparations which increased China's subjection. 1996, Jacques Gernet, translated by J. R. Foster and Charles Hartman, A History of Chinese Civilization, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, →OCLC, page 580
   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. 27 May 2012, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): ‘New Kid on the Block’ [season 4, episode 8; originally aired 12 November 1992]”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-09-18

verb

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.
   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. 12 August 1970 [15 January 1969], John Womack, Jr., Zapata and the Mexican Revolution, New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 261