excuse
UK /ɪkˈskjuːz/ · US /ɪksˈkjuz/ verb, noun
Forms excuses excusing excused
- verb (transitive) To forgive; to pardon; to overlook. “I excused him his transgressions.”
- verb (transitive) To allow to leave, or release from any obligation. “May I be excused from the table?”
- verb (transitive) To provide an excuse for; to justify. “You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!”
- verb To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.
- noun (countable, uncountable) An explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault. “Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses!”
- noun (law) A defense to a criminal or civil charge wherein the accused party admits to doing acts for which legal consequences would normally be appropriate, but asserts that special circumstances relieve that party of culpability for having done those acts.
- noun (often with preceding negative adjective, especially sorry, poor, or lame) An example of something that is substandard or of inferior quality. “That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?”
Synonyms
forgive let off the hook let pass pardon unguilt plead adduce cop-out pretext release clear justify tolerate overlook exempt discharge pretext bear with acquit exonerate absolve alibi exculpation self-justification apology relieve let off explain apologize apologise rationalize
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English excusen (verb) and excuse (noun), borrowed from Old French escuser (verb) and excuse (noun), from Latin excūsō, excūsāre (“to excuse, allege in excuse, literally, free from a charge”), from ex (“out”) + causa (“a charge”); see cause, accuse and recuse. Displaced native Old English lād (“an excuse”) and lādian (“to excuse”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb 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.
- verb 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.
- noun The act of excusing, apologizing, exculpating, pardoning, releasing, and the like; acquittal; release; absolution; justification; extenuation.
- noun 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.
Etymology [OE. escusen, cusen, OF. escuser, excuser, F. excuser, fr. L. excusare; ex out + causa cause, causari to plead. See Cause.]
Etymology [Cf. F. excuse. See Excuse, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “excuse”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details