 4 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
excuse
noun
1: a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep
a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay";
"every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job";
"his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
[syn: {alibi}, {exculpation}, {self-justification}]
2: a note explaining an absence; "he had to get his mother to
write an excuse for him"
3: a poor example; "it was an apology for a meal"; "a poor
excuse for an automobile" [syn: {apology}]
verb
1: accept an excuse for; "Please excuse my dirty hands" [syn: {pardon}]
2: grant exemption or release to; "Please excuse me from this
class" [syn: {relieve}, {let off}, {exempt}]
3: serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need
to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work";
"Her recent divorce amy explain her reluctance to date
again" [syn: {explain}]
4: defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by
reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy
behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success" [syn: {apologize},
{apologise}, {justify}, {rationalize}, {rationalise}]
5: ask for permission to be released from an engagement [syn: {beg
off}]
6: excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with;
"excuse someone's behavior"; "She condoned her husband's
occasional infidelities" [syn: {condone}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Excuse \Ex*cuse"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Excused}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Excusing}.] [OE. escusen, cusen, OF. escuser, excuser, F.
excuser, fr. L. excusare; ex out + causa cause, causari to
plead. See {Cause}.]
1. To free from accusation, or the imputation of fault or
blame; to clear from guilt; to release from a charge; to
justify by extenuating a fault; to exculpate; to absolve;
to acquit.
A man's persuasion that a thing is duty, will not
excuse him from guilt in practicing it, if really
and indeed it be against Gog's law. --Abp. Sharp.
2. To pardon, as a fault; to forgive entirely, or to admit to
be little censurable, and to overlook; as, we excuse
irregular conduct, when extraordinary circumstances appear
to justify it.
I must excuse what can not be amended. --Shak.
3. To regard with indulgence; to view leniently or to
overlook; to pardon.
And in our own (excuse some courtly stains.)
No whiter page than Addison remains. --Pope.
4. To free from an impending obligation or duty; hence, to
disengage; to dispense with; to release by favor; also, to
remit by favor; not to exact; as, to excuse a forfeiture.
I pray thee have me excused. --xiv. 19.
5. To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make
apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or
indulgence for.
Think ye that we excuse ourselves to you? --2 Cor.
xii. 19.
Syn: To vindicate; exculpate; absolve; acquit.
Usage: - {To Pardon}, {Excuse}, {Forgive}. A superior pardons
as an act of mercy or generosity; either a superior or
an equal excuses. A crime, great fault, or a grave
offence, as one against law or morals, may be
pardoned; a small fault, such as a failure in social
or conventional obligations, slight omissions or
neglects may be excused. Forgive relates to offenses
against one's self, and punishment foregone; as, to
forgive injuries or one who has injured us; to pardon
grave offenses, crimes, and criminals; to excuse an
act of forgetfulness, an unintentional offense. Pardon
is also a word of courtesy employed in the sense of
excuse.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Excuse \Ex*cuse"\, noun [Cf. F. excuse. See {Excuse}, verb (used with an object)]
1. The act of excusing, apologizing, exculpating, pardoning,
releasing, and the like; acquittal; release; absolution;
justification; extenuation.
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it. --Shak.
2. That which is offered as a reason for being excused; a
plea offered in extenuation of a fault or irregular
deportment; apology; as, an excuse for neglect of duty;
excuses for delay of payment.
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse. --Milton.
3. That which excuses; that which extenuates or justifies a
fault. ''It hath the excuse of youth.'' --Shak.
If eyes were made for seeing.
Then beauty is its own excuse for being. --Emerson.
Syn: See {Apology}.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
187 Moby Thesaurus words for "excuse":
abject apology, absolution, absolve, acknowledgment, acquit,
acquittal, acquittance, alibi, alibi out of, allow, amnesty,
apologize for, apology, basis, be blind to, blind, breast-beating,
cause, clear, clearance, clearing, cloak, color, compurgation,
condonation, condone, confession, contrition, cop-out, cover,
cover story, cover with excuses, cover-up, decontaminate, defence,
defend, defense, destigmatization, destigmatize, destigmatizing,
device, discharge, disculpation, dismiss, dismissal, dispense,
dispense from, dispense with, disregard, escape, evasion, except,
exculpate, exculpation, exempt, exempt from, exemption, exonerate,
exoneration, explain, explanation, extenuate, extenuation, facade,
feint, forgive, forgiveness, foundation, free, front,
give absolution, give dispensation from, gloss, gloss over, grace,
grant amnesty to, grant forgiveness, grant immunity,
grant remission, grounds, guise, handle, heedlessness, ignore,
immunity, indemnity, indulgence, justification, justify,
lame excuse, let go, let off, liberate, lie out of, likely story,
locus standi, loophole, make apology for, makeshift, mask,
mea culpa, mitigate, mitigation, nonpros, offer excuse for,
ostensible motive, out, overlook, palliate, palliation, pardon,
pass over, penitence, permit, plea, plead ignorance, poor excuse,
pretense, pretension, pretext, protestation, public motive,
purgation, purge, purging, put-off, quash the charge, quietus,
quittance, rational ground, rationale, rationalization,
rationalize, reason, reason for, reason why, redemption, refuge,
regrets, release, relieve, remise, remission, remission of sin,
remit, reprieve, right, save the necessity, screen, semblance,
set free, sham, shift, show, shrift, shrive, shrug off,
smoke screen, spare, sparing, squirm out of, stalking-horse, stall,
stated cause, stopgap, story, stratagem, substitute, subterfuge,
the big idea, the idea, the whatfor, the wherefore, the why, trick,
underlying reason, varnish, veil, verdict of acquittal, vindicate,
vindication, warrant, way out, whitewash, wink at,
withdraw the charge, worm out of
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