How to Use under false pretenses in a Sentence

under false pretenses

idiom
  • Trump seems to at least in part have made this move against Canada under false pretenses.
    — The Editors, National Review, 2 Feb. 2025
  • Both soldiers had obtained leave passes under false pretenses to meet me.
    — ProPublica, 15 Dec. 2022
  • Jail on June 4 to serve a 90-day jail sentence after having pled guilty last month to obtaining money under false pretenses, a felony.
    — Jakob Rodgers, The Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2024
  • He was found guilty of two counts of defrauding a hotel and three counts of obtaining a signature under false pretenses, court records show.
    — Kenny Jacoby, USA TODAY, 12 Dec. 2024
  • He was charged with obtaining funds under false pretenses.
    — cleveland, 12 Dec. 2022
  • The author of the letter accused Maria of borrowing money under false pretenses.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Nov. 2022
  • And your maternal grandmother was a Jew who escaped the Holocaust, changed her name, and fled to America under false pretenses.
    — Lori Gottlieb, The Atlantic, 29 July 2024
  • The scheme came to an abrupt halt when two Palestinians confronted the Israeli ambassador in Asunción about being brought to Paraguay under false pretenses.
    — Maha Nassar, The Conversation, 6 Feb. 2025
  • But her Afghan family says she was taken under false pretenses.
    — Sarah A. Topol Rozina Ali Chloé Cooper Jones David Marchese Kwame Anthony Appiah Yotam Ottolenghi Niela Orr Meg Bernhard Lisa Sanders, M.d. Victoria Chang John Hodgman, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2022
  • The notion that this war, this aggression by Russia, was being pursued under false pretenses.
    — ABC News, 25 June 2023
  • Eiffel and members of the company’s management were charged with raising money under false pretenses and misuse of funds.
    — Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 25 Dec. 2024
  • Rusesabagina was lured back to Rwanda under false pretenses and jailed on terrorism charges before his release last week.
    — CBS News, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Juliette's dad, Dr. Nichols, makes his way down past the barricade under false pretenses, past the Raiders, and administers aid to Kennedy by safely plucking out the offending projectile and bandaging the wound.
    — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 23 Dec. 2024
  • In recent convictions: A South Carolina sheriff and deputies arrested a man under false pretenses, stole from the county then falsified records to cover it up.
    — Scott Pham, CBS News, 20 May 2024
  • The complaint alleges a member of Santos' campaign team solicited money under false pretenses by pretending to be McCarthy's chief of staff.
    — Rachel Looker, USA TODAY, 15 Feb. 2023
  • Some Democrats were left frustrated by the Harris campaign’s strategy and have complained that their donations were given under false pretenses.
    — Ross O'Keefe, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Some things that shocked Western observers, such as Prigozhin’s statement that the war in Ukraine was started under false pretenses, will probably easily vanish from consciousness.
    — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
  • Hawkes borrowed his father’s phone under false pretenses to send the photos, the AP reported, and the 15-year-old girl began crying upon receiving the unsolicited images.
    — Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Federal law forbids entering the country under false pretenses, but giving birth in another country is not a crime.
    — Frank Shyong, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Anderson, under false pretenses, allegedly catfished her as a 20-year-old.
    — Hatshepsu Coutain-Julien, Hartford Courant, 14 May 2024
  • And then there are operations like EDMC, which federal officials say pushed enrollees deeply into debt under false pretenses.
    — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2024
  • This is not the first time in recent weeks that authorities have arrested people accused of trying to enter evacuation zones under false pretenses.
    — Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2025
  • Levant’s guest appearance comes courtesy of a medical furlough that June arranged under false pretenses.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2023
  • Render alleges that he was placed under citizen’s arrest under false pretenses.
    — Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Feb. 2025
  • The fraud occurs when people use false identities to rent an apartment under false pretenses or for criminal purposes, owners and property managers say.
    — Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 8 May 2024
  • After falling in love and lust under false pretenses, the duo has finally managed to put the past behind them and reinvent themselves as a happy all-American family, complete with a couple dogs, a couple kids, and an apple pie on the dinner table.
    — Chris Stanton, Vulture, 14 June 2024
  • Although no exact number of individual braces sold under false pretenses was stated in the complaint, the Bells received millions of dollars from the scheme, according to prosecutors.
    — Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2023
  • The caller alleged that a Vectrus subcontractor hired workers under false pretenses and withheld their pay, according to a Justice Department report.
    — Anna Schecter, NBC News, 27 Oct. 2022
  • In 2020, al-Hamada flew back to Damascus, lured by government officials under false pretenses, his family believe.
    — Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024
  • Momeni's attorneys blasted the paper for paying for the photos – which were allegedly taken under false pretenses by a photographer who was supposed to be taking pictures of the solitary confinement area.
    — Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 4 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'under false pretenses.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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