Master confusing words with ease
Pretense vs. Pretext
Pretense
/prɪˈtens/Examples:
She smiled under the pretense of calmness.His pretense of wealth fooled nobody.Under the pretense of friendship, he betrayed her.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Pretext
/ˈpriːtekst/Examples:
He used the rain as a pretext to skip the meeting.Her illness was a convenient pretext for avoiding the trip.Under pretext of fixing the issue, he delayed the project.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Pretense refers to a false display of feelings, attitudes, or intentions.
- Pretext implies a false reason or motive put forth to hide the true one.
- Remember that a pretense is more about putting on a façade, while a pretext is about justifying an action under false premises.
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