A Word, Please: The pretense-pretext distinction, if there is one

Decades after I began writing about language, there are still words I avoid out of fear I’ll use them wrong. And worse: Some of these are terms I’ve learned, written about, then promptly forgotten.

Top of the list: pretext and pretense. These words are so similar, in meaning and in form, that it’s hard to know how they differ, if at all.

If I want to say that someone sold me a bad car, would I say they were operating under the pretext that it wasn’t junk? Or under the pretense?

According to the Associated Press Stylebook, “pretext” is the way to go in this situation: “A pretext is something that is put forward to conceal a truth: He was discharged for tardiness, but the reason given was only a pretext for general incompetence. A pretense is a false show, a more overt act intended to conceal personal feelings: My profuse compliments were all pretense.”

No wonder I was confused. That’s a teensy difference. A pretext conceals a truth. A pretense conceals feelings. They’re both deceptions used as an excuse to say or do something disingenuous.

But AP style is really just for editors and people looking for a rulebook to conform to. If you want rules that apply to the language in every context, you need a dictionary. And here, in this world of rules for everyone, the pretense-pretext distinction is all but wiped out.

Under the entry for “pretense” in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the fourth definition is “pretext” — meaning the two words can be synonymous. Under its entry for “pretext,” there’s no definition summed up as “pretense,” but if you click on “synonyms,” you land at a thesaurus page that lists “pretense” as one of the top words you can use instead.

Of course, the words are interchangeable only if you’re using the “deception” meaning of “pretense.” It can also mean ostentatiousness or pomposity, like when you call a conceited or arrogant person pretentious. You can’t use “pretext” if you mean that.

Often when words are similar in form and meaning, you can trace their history to learn that one sprouted from the other — perhaps starting as a misspelling or new pronunciation — like the way “harken” begat “hearken” and “hark.”

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“Pretext” and “pretense,” however, evolved on parallel tracks for as far back as my etymology reference guides record.

“Pretense” first popped up in Middle English in the 16th century, apparently evolving from the Latin “pretension,” which was rooted in words meaning to “stretch in front,” “put forward” or “allege.” Around the same time, “pretext” started to appear in English, but it probably grew from a different Latin word, “praetextus,” which itself was rooted in a word meaning “to weave.”

Today, the meanings are very similar and, therefore, hard to choose between. So it’s good to know that “on the pretext of” and “on the pretense of” are both acceptable.

And what about “false pretenses”? Since a pretense is itself a deception, you’d think that “false” would be redundant. But in fact, it’s a formal term for a crime. According to a Cornell Law School database, someone commits the crime known as false pretenses “when they obtain title to the victim’s property through misrepresentations with the intent to defraud.”

Next time I’m struggling to choose between “pretense” and “pretext,” I’ll try to remember the mnemonic that “tense” suggests a feeling. But based on my track record, I doubt I’ll retain this pretense-pretext lesson for long.

June Casagrande is the author of “The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.” She can be reached at [email protected].