s what is allowed or approved a
_pretext_ for doing what would be opposed or condemned; a tricky
schoolboy makes a _pretense_ of doing an errand which he does not do, or
he makes the actual doing of an errand a _pretext_ for playing truant. A
_ruse_ is something (especially something slight or petty) employed to
blind or deceive so as to mask an ulterior design, and enable a person
to gain some end that he would not be allowed to approach directly. A
_pretension_ is a claim that is or may be contested; the word is now
commonly used in an unfavorable sense. Compare ARTIFICE; HYPOCRISY.

Antonyms:

actuality, frankness, ingenuousness, reality, sincerity,
candor, guilelessness, openness, simplicity, truth.
fact, honesty,

* * * * *

PREVENT.

Synonyms:

anticipate, forestall, obviate, preclude.

The original sense of _prevent_, to come before, act in advance of,
which is now practically obsolete, was still in good use when the
authorized version of the Bible was made, as appears in such passages
as, "When Peter was come into the house, Jesus _prevented_ him" (_i.
e._, addressed him first), _Matt._ xvii, 25; "Thou _preventest_ him with
the blessings of goodness" (_i. e._, by sending the blessings before the
desire is formulated or expressed), _Ps._ xxi, 3. _Anticipate_ is now
the only single word usable in this sense; to _forestall_ is to take or
act in advance in one's own behalf and to the prejudice of another or
others, as in the phrase "to _forestall_ the market." But to
_anticipate_ is very frequently used in the favorable sense; as, his
thoughtful kindness _anticipated_ my wish (_i. e._, met the wish before
it was expressed): or we say, "I was about to accost him when he
_anticipated_ me" (by speaking first); or one _anticipates_ a payment
(by making it before the time); in neither of these cases could we use
_forestall_ or _prevent_. To _obviate_ (literally, to stop the way of or
remove from the way), is to _prevent_ by interception, so that something
that would naturally withstand or disturb may be kept from doing so; to
_preclude_, (literally, to close or shut in advance) is to _prevent_ by
anticipation or by logical necessity; walls and bars _precluded_ the
possibility of escape; a supposition is _precluded_; a necessity or
difficulty is _obviated_. _Prevent_, which at first had only the
anticipatory meaning, has come to apply to the s