pretext
noun
1 pretext
Something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason.
synonym: stalking-horse.
Dutch: smoes, voorwendsel, dekmantel
Polish: pretekst
2 pretext
An artful or simulated semblance.
synonyms: guise, pretence, pretense.
Roget 546:
untruth,
falsehood,
lie,
story,
thing that is not,
fib,
bounce,
crammer,
taradiddle†,
whopper;
jhuth†.
forgery,
fabrication,
invention;
misstatement,
misrepresentation;
perversion,
falsification,
gloss,
suggestio falsi [Lat.];
exaggeration
etc.
549.
invention,
fabrication,
fiction;
fable,
nursery tale;
romance
etc.
(imagination)
515;
absurd story,
untrue story,
false story,
trumped up story,
trumped up statement;
thing devised by the enemy;
canard;
shave,
sell,
hum,
traveler's tale,
Canterbury tale,
cock and bull story,
fairy tale,
fake;
claptrap.
press agent's yarn;
puff,
puffery
(exaggeration)
549.
myth,
moonshine,
bosh,
all my eye and Betty Martin,
mare's nest,
farce.
irony;
half truth,
white lie,
pious fraud;
mental reservation
etc.
(concealment)
528.
pretense,
pretext;
false plea
etc.
617;
subterfuge,
evasion,
shift,
shuffle,
make-believe;
sham
etc.
(deception)
545.
profession,
empty words;
Judas kiss
etc.
(hypocrisy)
544;
disguise
etc.
(mask)
530.
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Roget 617:
pretext,
pretense,
pretension,
plea†;
allegation,
advocation;
ostensible motive,
ostensible ground,
ostensible reason,
phony reason;
excuse
etc.
(vindication)
937;
subterfuge;
color;
gloss,
guise,
cover.
loop hole,
starting hole;
how to creep out of,
salvo,
come off;
way of escape.
handle,
peg to hang on,
room locus standi [Lat.];
stalking-horse,
cheval de bataille [Fr.],
cue.
pretense
etc.
(untruth)
546;
put off,
dust thrown in the eyes;
blind;
moonshine;
mere pretext,
shallow pretext;
lame excuse,
lame apology;
tub to a whale;
false plea,
sour grapes;
makeshift,
shift,
white lie;
special pleading
etc.
(sophistry)
477;
soft sawder
etc.
(flattery)
933†.
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Dutch: mom, voorkomen, uiterlijk, dekmantel, pretext, schijngrond, schijnreden, smoes, voorwendsel
Moby thesaurus: acting, affectation, alibi, allege, alternative, appearance, attitudinizing, avow, bluff, bluffing, camouflage, cheating, choice, claim, cloak, color, coloring, cover, cover story, deception, delusion, disguise, dissemblance, dissembling, dissimulation, escape clause, escape hatch, excuse, explanation, facade, face, fakery, faking, false air, false front, false show, falsity, feigning, feint, four-flushing, fraud, front, gilt, gloss, guise, humbug, humbuggery, imposture, loophole, masquerade, meretriciousness, ostentation, outward show, playacting, plea, pose, posing, posture, pretend, pretense, pretension, profess, protest too much, purport, rational ground, rationale, rationalization, reason, reason for, reason why, red herring, representation, right, ruse, saving clause, seeming, semblance, sham, show, simulacrum, simulation, speciousness, stated cause, the big idea, the idea, the whatfor, the wherefore, the why, underlying reason, varnish, veil, way of escape, way out, window dressing ... show more.
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