Pretext

The buzz is that the political agenda of the Minister’s visit was merely a pretext .

the rebels had the perfect pretext for making their move

Any sign of opposition, real or imagined, was the pretext for a massive retaliation.

The day before he carried out the bomb attack, he left the house under the pretext he was going to visit friends.

For example, the Disability Discrimination Act applies to small business and service providers but apparently local authorities and their partners, on any number of pretexts , can fail to comply.

We’re the ones who unquestioningly march behind bullies into other countries on fictitious pretexts .

But it has become increasingly clear to them that the pretexts for the war were false.

Of course, there are always good pretexts to postpone political reform.

I remember most of all the strange inactivity of the powerful – there were plenty of legal pretexts to arrest anyone who physically barred the tankers’ way out, but nothing much seemed to happen.

We find pretexts and excuses to nip through the main room to check on David, bringing him half an orange, a chunk of chocolate, so he knows we’re still thinking of him.

Government officials have used concern for real estate value and tourism appeal as pretexts for such abuses.

Various pretexts , excuses, and complications have been invoked over the years, but essentially this is a matter of politically motivated exclusion.

He has often sought to justify repression on the pretexts of threatened coups against his government.

Defendants can usually win a continuance on the flimsiest of pretexts , and their strategy typically is to delay and delay until the woman gives up the prosecution.

That time frame leaves an almost inexhaustible supply of pretexts to draw upon in the fight against the West.

They may cloak themselves in all manner of legalistic garb, prattling about human rights and producing other pretexts for trying to stop us because we’re on the side of the angels.

States which are defenseless can be attacked at will, with the most flimsy pretexts and virtually no international support.

The centerpiece of that strategy is the use of minor infractions as pretexts to lock up suspects on whom the government lacks sufficient evidence to accuse them of more serious crimes.

The usual pretexts for war were used, which resulted in profits for the privileged few.

Moreover, where national enterprises are non-competitive, the imperial states invent pretexts to protect them from more efficient producers.