pretext
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Noun edit
pretext (plural pretexts)
- 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 edit
false, contrived or assumed purpose
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Verb edit
pretext (third-person singular simple present pretexts, present participle pretexting, simple past and past participle pretexted)
- 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 edit
- blag (UK)
Translations edit
employ a pretext
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See also edit
Social engineering on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Further reading edit
- “pretext”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “pretext”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French prétexte.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
pretext n (plural pretexte)
Declension edit
Declension of pretext
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) pretext | pretextul | (niște) pretexte | pretextele |
| genitive/dative | (unui) pretext | pretextului | (unor) pretexte | pretextelor |
| vocative | pretextule | pretextelor | ||
Swedish edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin praetextum. First attested in 1617.[1]
Noun edit
pretext c
- (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 edit
| Declension of pretext | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | pretext | pretexten | pretexter | pretexterna |
| Genitive | pretexts | pretextens | pretexters | pretexternas |