You wished to see me on a trumped-up excuse.

Or that his phone call could have been made from a nearby call-box and he was even now listening to her mother's only too obviously trumped-up excuses.

The whole Monica thing was a transparent trumped-up excuse.

He could, of course, have summoned King Melwas to the council hall on a trumped-up excuse, but this he would not do.

Many people well into middle age can remember the trumped-up excuses or notes from home or the doctor that allowed them to escape the ritual.

Drawing away, she looked at him with such innocent acceptance of his trumped-up excuse that he nearly broke into a grin.

What trumped-up excuses have you spent the night dreaming up?

Nevertheless, it was used repeatedly by central governments to suspend state governments (of opposite political parties) based on genuine reasons or trumped-up excuses.

He could just imagine Finnea firing off a note with some trumped-up excuse to see him.

He thought of a trumped-up excuse and glanced back over his sboulder.