He has not gotten in touch with me for a long time under the pretence of being busy.

At other times he taught her to play on the pipe, and as she began to breathe into it he snatched it from her, pressed the reeds to his lips and made them sound, under pretence of teaching her and rectifying her errors; but in reality his purpose was to kiss those parts of the instrument which her lips had touched, and thus the pipe became a conductor for his kisses.

The plump young woman thrust the heel of her stiletto into my big toe under the pretence that I had been too forceful.

You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, when your stepfather comes back.

As for washing dishes, Mr. Harrison never made any pretence of doing it unless a rainy Sunday came. Then he went to work and washed them all at once in the rainwater hogshead, and left them to drain dry.

All in the golden afternoon / Full leisurely we glide; / For both our oars, with little skill, / By little arms are plied, / While little hands make vain pretence / Our wanderings to guide.

He is not so much a humorist as a satirist of the Thackeray type — unsparing in his denunciation of shams, affectations, and flimsy pretences of all kinds.

It's just a pretence.