under false pretenses

idiom

: by saying something that is not true, by pretending something, etc.

A reporter obtained documents from the company under false pretenses.

Examples of under false pretenses in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The thieves can then use that information to make purchases with the victims' credit cards, open new credit cards in the victims' names, steal the victims' tax refunds, get a job or medical care under false pretenses, and even impersonate the victims upon being arrested for or convicted of a crime. —Adam Harrington, CBS News, 26 Jan. 2026

Hours after her murder, Wilson encountered Ruiz and persuaded her to get into his vehicle under false pretenses, and then killed her before running her over multiple times and abandoning her body in a nearby field, per Gulf Coast News Now. —Jane Lacroix, PEOPLE, 22 Jan. 2026

Nepal has said scores of its citizens were recruited under false pretenses to join Russia’s war effort and has called on Moscow to stop the practice. —Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 25 Nov. 2025

The war had been sold under false pretenses. —Dana Taylor, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for under false pretenses

• albigenses
• consequences
• inferences
• biosciences
• commences
• condenses
• defences
• defenses
• dispenses
• expenses
• offences
• offenses