under false pretenses

under false pretenses

With a false impression created through intentional misrepresentation. I'm afraid you were brought here under false pretenses. I'm not your long-lost brother. You may not have lied directly, but you sold him those paintings under false pretenses—he thinks they're originals!
See also: false, pretense
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

by/on/under false preˈtences

(British English) (American English by/on/under false ˈpretenses) by lying about your identity, qualifications, financial or social position, etc: She was sent to prison for six months for obtaining money under false pretences. He got me there under false pretences. He told me he wanted to discuss a business deal, but when I got there, it was a surprise birthday party.
See also: by, false, on, pretence
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • by false pretenses
  • by/on/under false pretences
  • on false pretenses
  • pretence
  • pretense
  • ring false
  • ring true
  • ring true/false/hollow
  • colour
  • false
References in classic literature
"In the third place, I have good reason to believe that you entered Miss Ladd's school as a teacher, under false pretenses. After that discovery, I tell you plainly I hesitate to attach credit to any statement that you may wish to make.
I leave you to decide whether the woman who has shown you that letter--having something important to say to you--is a person who is mean enough to say it under false pretenses."
I never sought you under false pretenses. I never asked you for your friendship.
New Delhi, Feb.4 ( ANI ): Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin on Tuesday said the ministry has written to the Ugandan High Commission regarding a complaint filed by three Ugandan women with the police indicating that they were allegedly brought to India under false pretenses.
Okada also filed an amended counterclaim in which he accuses Wynn, General Counsel Kimmarie Sinatra and individual board members of committing "a series of predicate acts of racketeering, which include fraud, acquiring property under false pretenses, acquiring signatures under false pretenses and other similar wrongful activities."
Paul, one of only six Republicans in the House to vote against the 2002 Iraq war resolution, recently observed on the House floor that "preemptive, undeclared wars fought under false pretenses are a road to disaster." (See the sidebar on page 14.) That has indeed been the case.
Even more recently, heated debate broke out on Wharton's official MBA blog over the accusation that an international student in its 2007 MBA class had gotten into the program under false pretenses. (The accuser, an English native speaker, claims to have ghost written much of the student's application.) Although the details of the accusation could not be corroborated, it does raise an interesting question: How big of a problem is ghostwriting in MBA applications?
"Mesa came to Hawaii under false pretenses, making false promises," Aloha CEO and President David Banmiller contended.
Your reports and columns are a breath of fresh air to an otherwise stench filled gutter press reporting of the Scottish game, seen through Green tinted specs by the majority who masquerade under false pretenses as "Journalists".
The former Marsh managers are accused of colluding with insurance executives to arrange noncompetitive bids and then conveying these bids to clients under false pretenses. The indicted executives include: William Gilman, former managing director and executive marketing director; Joseph Peiser, former managing director and head of global broking excess casualty; Edward J.
Never--and I say never--try to trick prospects into opening an envelope under false pretenses. Once they realize they've been tricked, you've lost all but the most naive (and non-converting or non-renewing) prospects.
The court found that the university was within its rights because Fenje obtained the job under false pretenses. (Fenje v.
The dangerous implications of a war initiated and led under false pretenses, the strategic importance of oil and its fundamental motivation in a political and worldwide power grab, emerging decadence in the West and more are all chronicles with a cautious eye and a sharp tongue.
It is of little importance whether it was larceny, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, swindling or other wrongful deprivations of the property of another.