a pretended reason for doing something that is used to hide the real reason

The border dispute was used as a pretext for military intervention. 边界纠纷被用作军事入侵的借口。

I called her on the pretext of needing more information. 我借口需要更多的信息给她打了电话。

He came round to see her on some flimsy (= obviously false) pretext. 他找了个明显站不住脚的借口来看她。