guise

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

the cause of something
reasonI frankly don’t understand the reason for the delay.
causeInvestigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
rootWe need to get to the root of her problems.
motiveThere seems to have been no motive for the murder.
ground(s)On what grounds was she dismissed?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Plotting & trapping
be in league with someoneidiom
cahoots
catch someone out
chemtrail
chicanery
conspiracy
conspiracy theorist
conspiracy theory
conspirator
conspire
insinuate
machination
outplot
plotter
ploy
pretextual
put-up job
sting
what's your game?idiom
wheeze

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Cheating & tricking

pretext | American Dictionary

pretext
noun[ C ]
us/ˈpri·tekst/
a pretended reason for doing something that is used to hide the real reason:
He called her on the pretext of needing help with his homework.

Examples of pretext

pretext
The charge against the king was little more than a formality, and the business of proving his guilt or innocence was really just a pretext.
What we face here is not a standard of proof but a pretext-and a flimsy one at that-for a conviction or for an acquittal.
This context must provide the pretext for understanding the work and extent of resistance.
The offering of feigned opposition can give moderates a welcome scapegoat and pretext for moderation.
Reading between the lines one suspects the change of address charge of being a technical pretext for expelling him.
They found various pretexts and seized all kinds of opportunities to achieve this goal.
In fairness, we believe the pretexts given for the many rewrites were subconsciously rather than consciously manipulative.
Employers also had the option of providing a housing allowance in lieu of accommodation, which some used as a pretext to limit wages.
Exoticism in most of these operas is conceived of as a pretext for interesting decors, contrasts, a game of typologies.
The significance of these two products should not be exaggerated, however, since they often provided more of a pretext for the trade than its substance.
All that was needed was the right pretext.
Conversely, a politically divided military may use the foreigners' presence as a pretext for political unrest.
Elsewhere, one cannot help but wonder if the book's rhetoric about intuition sometimes does not serve as a pretext to relax scientific and empirical standards.
Articles, travelling expenses, voyages were so many pretexts to dazzle neophytes with rewards.
In the latter case, under the pretext of bridewealth exchange, this is nothing less than a brutal sale.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.