excuse
[noun]
Synonyms:
- justification, apology, defence, explanation, grounds, mitigation, plea, reason, vindication
[verb]
Synonyms:
- justify, apologize for, defend, explain, mitigate, vindicate
- forgive, acquit, exculpate, exonerate, make allowances for, overlook, pardon, tolerate, turn a blind eye to
- free, absolve, discharge, exempt, let off, release, relieve, spare

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Antonyms: punish
Contrasted words: blame, censure, criticize, reprehend, reprobate, castigate, chasten, chastise, correct, discipline, admonish, chide, rebuke, reprimand, nonpareil, paragon, gem, jewel, treasure
Related Idioms: a sorry specimen
Related Words: alibi, apologize (for), explain, justify, pretext, rationalize, absolve, acquit, clear, exculpate, exonerate, vindicate, extenuate, gloss (over), gloze, overlook, palliate, pass over, shrug off, whitewash, wink (at), defense, explanation, justification, rationalization, reason, makeshift, shift, stopgap, substitute

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English Thesaurus: reason, explanation, motive, justification, grounds, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. ex‧cuse¹ S1 /ɪkˈskjuːz/ verb [transitive]
[Word Family: verb: excuse; noun: excuse; adverb: inexcusably; adjective: excusable ≠ inexcusable]
[Date: 1400-1500; Language: Old French; Origin: excuser, from Latin excusare, from causa 'cause, explanation']

1. excuse me spoken
a) used when you want to get someone’s attention politely, especially when you want to ask a question:
Excuse me, can you tell me the way to the museum please?
b) used to say that you are sorry for doing something rude or embarrassing:
Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know anyone was here.
c) used to ask someone politely to move so that you can walk past:
Excuse me, could I just squeeze past?
d) used to politely tell someone that you are leaving a place:
Excuse me a moment. I’ll be right back.
e) used when you disagree with someone but want to be polite about it Synonym : I’m sorry:
Excuse me, but I don’t think that’s what he meant at all.
f) American English used to show that you disagree with someone or are very surprised or upset by what they have just said:
‘You’re going to pay, right?’ ‘Excuse me?’
g) especially American English used to ask someone to repeat something that they have just said Synonym : pardon me:
‘What time is it?’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘I asked you what time it is.’

2. FORGIVE to forgive someone for doing something that is not seriously wrong, such as being rude or careless:
I’ll excuse you this time, but don’t be late again.
Please excuse my bad handwriting.
excuse somebody for (doing) something
Please excuse me for being so late today.
Smith can be excused for his lack of interest in the course (=his lack of interest is reasonable).

REGISTER
In informal situations, people often say sorry about …, sorry for doing ... or sorry I … rather than asking someone to excuse something:
Sorry about my handwriting.
Sorry for being so late. OR Sorry I’m so late.

3. FROM A DUTY [usually passive] to allow someone not to do something that they are supposed to do
excuse somebody from (doing) something
Can I be excused from swimming today? I have a cold.

4. EXPLAIN to be or give a good reason for someone’s careless or offensive behaviour:
Nothing can excuse that kind of rudeness.

5. FROM A PLACE to give someone permission to leave a place:
May I please be excused from the table?

6. excuse yourself to say politely that you need to leave a place:
Richard excused himself and went to his room.

7. excuse me (for living)! spoken used when someone has offended you or told you that you have done something wrong

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. ex‧cuse² S3 /ɪkˈskjuːs/ noun [countable]
[Word Family: verb: excuse; noun: excuse; adverb: inexcusably; adjective: excusable ≠ inexcusable]

1. a reason that you give to explain careless or offensive behaviour
excuse for (doing) something
What’s your excuse for being late this time?
I’m tired of listening to his excuses.

2. a reason that you invent to explain an action and to hide your real intentions
excuse to do something
I need an excuse to call her.
excuse for
The conference is just an excuse for a holiday in New York.

3. there is no excuse for something used to say that someone’s behaviour is too bad to be explained or accepted:
There is no excuse for such rudeness.

4. make your excuses to explain why you are not able to do something:
Please make my excuses at the meeting tomorrow.

5. a poor/rotten etc excuse for something used when you think someone or something is very bad:
He’s a rotten excuse for a lawyer. Why on earth did you hire him?

6. American English a note written by your doctor or one of your parents saying that you were ill on a particular day Synonym : sick note British English

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

excuse
noun
I. reason given
ADJ. perfect, wonderful | good, legitimate, valid | convincing, plausible, reasonable | feeble, flimsy, lame, pathetic, poor | convenient, easy The children provided a convenient excuse for missing the party.
standard, usual | every She seized on every excuse to avoid doing the work.
the slightest He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse.
VERB + EXCUSE have He had no excuse for being so late.
give, make, offer She made some feeble excuse about the car having broken down. You don't have to make excuses for her (= try to think of reasons for her behaviour). It's late. I'm afraid I'll have to make my excuses (= say I'm sorry, give my reasons and leave).
give sb, offer sb, provide (sb with) Delivering the stuff for Rodney gave me an excuse to take the car. Her mother's illness provided her with an excuse to stay at home.
need | look for | find, invent, make up, seize on, think up She had to find a valid excuse for leaving the room. He made up a rather lame excuse for the work being late.
use sth as The political crisis is being used as an excuse to dock people's pay.
run out of He's run out of excuses for not tidying his room.
accept, believe | reject
PREP. ~ about He invented a pathetic excuse about losing his watch.
~ for It's just an excuse for a party.
PHRASES there is no excuse for … There's no excuse for such behaviour.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

excuse
II. bad example of sth
ADJ. pathetic, poor
PREP. ~ for Why get involved with that pathetic excuse for a human being?

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

excuse

make up/think up/invent an excuse
I made up some excuse about my car breaking down.
We’d better think up an excuse, fast.
make excuses for somebody/something (=give reasons which try to explain why someone has made a mistake or behaved badly)
His mother was always making excuses for her son's behaviour.
use something as an excuse
She never complained or used her illness as an excuse.
look for an excuse
I began to look for excuses to avoid seeing him.
give an excuse
I'll have to give my boss some kind of excuse.
believe/accept an excuse
She didn’t believe his excuse for one minute.
have an excuse
Companies have no excuse for breaking the law.
a good excuse
A sunny day is a good excuse to go to the beach.
a wonderful excuse (=a very good excuse)
A wedding is a wonderful excuse to buy a new outfit.
a reasonable/plausible excuse (=one that other people will believe)
If your train was cancelled, that is a perfectly reasonable excuse.
a legitimate/valid excuse (=one that is true and that other people cannot criticize)
He didn’t have a legitimate excuse for being late.
the perfect excuse
The phone call gave me the perfect excuse to leave.
a feeble/flimsy/weak excuse (=one that is difficult to believe)
Joe muttered some feeble excuse about having a headache.
a pathetic/lame excuse (=very weak)
That’s the most pathetic excuse I’ve ever heard.
the usual excuse/the same old excuse
He made the usual excuses for not coming.
Whenever the trains are late, it's always the same old excuse.
a convenient excuse
The rioting provided the government with a convenient excuse not to hold an election.
use every excuse in the book (=use every possible excuse)
He used every excuse in the book to avoid seeing the doctor.
at the slightest excuse (=for any reason, however unimportant)
She comes to our house at the slightest excuse.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

excuse
verb
1.
BAD: Excuse me. I didn't know that you wanted to speak to me.
GOOD: I'm sorry. I didn't know that you wanted to speak to me.
BAD: Excuse me. I didn't mean to hurt you.
GOOD: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.

Usage Note:
Use excuse me (1) when you interrupt someone (2) when you are trying to get past someone (3) when you speak to someone you don't know: 'Excuse me but there's a long distance phone call for you.' 'Excuse me. Do you happen to know the way to the station?'
To apologize to someone, use I'm sorry (or just sorry ): 'I'm terribly sorry. I forgot we'd arranged a meeting.'

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2.
BAD: When he got back home he excused himself and promised that he would never run away again.
GOOD: When he got back home he apologized and promised that he would never run away again.

Usage Note:
excuse oneself = give a reason for one's actions: 'She excused herself from the meeting, saying that she was not feeling well.'
apologize = say you are sorry for (doing) something: 'The bank wrote to apologize for overcharging me.'

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3.
BAD: He was sorry that he had lied to her and asked her to excuse him.
GOOD: He was sorry that he had lied to her and asked her to forgive him.

Usage Note:
Excuse is used only for minor faults and offences: 'I hope you'll excuse my untidy handwriting. I am trying to write this letter on a train.'
Forgive is used for all faults and offences, both minor and major: 'I don't think he'll ever forgive me for calling off the wedding.' 'Don't forget her birthday or she'll never forgive you.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

reason why something happens, or why someone does something:
What was the reason for the delay?
I don’t know the reason why he left his last job.
explanation a set of reasons that helps you to understand why something happens, especially when it seems difficult to understand:
There are various possible explanations for climate change.
Is there any explanation for his behavior?
motive a reason that makes someone decide to do something – often used about crimes:
Police say that there is no obvious motive for the attack.
justification a good reason for doing something that seems wrong:
There is never any justification for torture or abuse.
They try to use the situation in the Middle East as a justification for killing innocent civilians.
There’s no justification for this type of behaviour.
grounds a reason that makes it right or fair to do something, especially according to legal, official, or moral rules:
The court will decide if she has grounds for divorce.
They claim the war is justified on moral grounds (=because of moral reasons).
basis the main ideas or reasons on which something is based:
The doctor makes his decisions purely on the basis of clinical observation.
What do you think is the basis for this advice?
rationale /ˌræʃəˈnɑːl $ -ˈnæl/ formal a set of reasons that are used to explain why someone does something in a particular way:
the rationale behind the government’s economic reforms
This chapter explains the nature of yearly plans, and provides a rationale for their use.
excuse a reason that you give to explain why you have done something bad, or not done something that you should have done – especially one that is not completely true:
She said she couldn’t come because she had to work late, but it was just an excuse.
a feeble excuse (=one that is hard to believe)
pretext especially written an untrue reason that you give for doing or not doing something, in order to hide the real reason:
He would often find some pretext to go out in the evening alone.
They used this as a pretext for taking military action.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

excuse
to forgive someone
We excused the man for his rude comments because he did not know any better.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲