Definition of excuse in English:

excuse

verb ɪkˈskjuːzɛkˈskjuːzɪkˈskjuz

[with object]

1Seek to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offence); try to justify.
he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty
Example sentencesExamples
- Without in any way excusing horrible atrocities against civilians, it is crucial to understand the use of violence, even terror, in terms that go beyond a single individual.
- You did not excuse the wrongdoings of the executives involved in the recently uncovered corporate scandals.
- He does not make himself anonymous by excusing his errors and sins as functions of inauspicious circumstances or bad social influences.
- Since men who've known the horror and stress of war would not excuse such crimes why are so many conservatives willing to do so?
- The following year, he told the conference: ‘No one but a fool would excuse crime on the basis of social conditions.’
- I don't mean to excuse the crimes committed in the name of anticommunism.
- To excuse sin as sickness is a tempting way to avoid responsibility.
- The prosecution suggested she had manufactured and exaggerated the abuse to excuse murder.
- Now, I'm not for a minute going to excuse those crimes.
- That doesn't excuse his sin, it compounds it since he, of all people, should know better.
- There are prisoners from Louisiana excusing their crimes by blaming boredom.
- From the time they were boys, others have fawned over them, winked at their flaws, excused their peccadilloes.
- The media should refrain from reporting on events staged by politicians trying to excuse their own misconduct or making unfounded accusations.
- Without the confession of faith we are bound to rationalize our actions, excuse our sins, and dodge the law's accusation.
- It is a power in the Court to excuse breaches of trust.
- You can't excuse murder just because you want to sue the drug companies or the doctors on the back end.
- If I so glibly excused the murder of children, I wouldn't be able to stand my own reflection either.
- In my opinion, excusing complicit parties excuses rape itself.
- Apart from our penchant for ritual, in matters of corruption it is our fondness of explaining and excusing the crime that is most visible.
- If the violence weren't emphasized, the cops and courts would go on excusing the crime as an excess of boyishness provoked by flashy dress, raging hormones, dirty music, and too much junk food.
Synonyms
justify, defend, make excuses for, make a case for, explain (away), rationalize, condone, vindicate, warrant
mitigate, palliate
apologize for
forgive, overlook, disregard, ignore, pass over, turn a blind eye to, turn a deaf ear to, wink at, blink at, indulge, tolerate, sanction
rare extenuate
1. 1.1 Forgive (someone) for a fault or offence.
  you must excuse my brother
  he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time
  Example sentencesExamples
  Looking at the world today and comparing the respective positions of education and catastrophe, one could be excused for thinking that education was lagging far behind.
  Indeed, so pronounced is the change that one could be excused for talking about the ‘corruption of Christmas’.
  After the horrors of the past year, Gardner could be excused for wanting a quieter life away from frontline journalism.
  One could be excused for thinking that the orchestration of realignment had become a target of the major parties as their relationship with the electorate weakened, and they looked to experts to advise them.
  Vogts, who these days could be excused for celebrating even a narrow defeat, found himself frustrated that he had been forced to settle for a draw.
  Next time your electricity or gas bill comes thumping through the door on to the mat, you could be excused for not being too sure you can trust it.
  These would be feats never previously achieved and one could be excused for thinking of them as over-ambitious.
  Please excuse me for not telling you more than this.
  Cricketers around the country know all about his prowess, although Ricky Ponting could be excused for having hardly heard of him.
  Frail elderly people could be excused for imagining that our society offers them little beyond goodwill, sympathy, and the hope that they will stay out of sight.
  This sort of thing seems surreal to Ranch, the Minor League Player of the Year, so you'll have to excuse him if he does not seem excited.
  Meanwhile, staff at the paper could be excused for wondering how their boss manages to edit the paper when he is so busy brushing up his broadcasting techniques.
  Our party doesn't defend the corrupt or excuse them.
  In these circumstances, perhaps Capriati could be excused for growing rattled and her temper exploded at 15-30 in the second game of the second set.
  Scoring was particularly good and some of the placed players could be excused for assuming that they might have had the winning score.
  Shareholders could be excused for thinking the Three Stooges could do better, and maybe they could.
  ‘You must excuse my friend - she's a little hard of hearing,’ Nate put in quickly.
  By the start of Round 7, Leonard could be excused for wondering why he'd bothered to promote this particular fight.
  ‘You have to excuse my room mate, she is a little delusional it looks like,’ I heard Penelope plead.
  In the circumstances, Sutton could be excused for not cutting a dash.
  Synonyms
  forgive, pardon, absolve, exonerate, acquit
  make allowances for
  informal let someone off (the hook)
  rare exculpate
2. 1.2 Overlook or make allowances for.
  sit down—excuse the mess
  Example sentencesExamples
  Please excuse any misspellings or nonsensical happenings… I have my moments.
  Please excuse the current lack of more original postings on this blog.
  Missing an update is a small thing and readers will excuse the occasional lapse.
  But it is these days difficult to avoid the tangled mess of geopolitical analysis, so please excuse my taking liberties this week.
  The songs do seem awkward at times as the tight story-line doesn't allow any gaps, but even this can be excused as the songs are very good.
  I won't get to post until after I do Sunrise so newbie readers, excuse the mess.
  Finally, the most fruitful source of food (please excuse the pun) was from the economy.
  Excuse my ignorance, can you please tell me who Mr Boas is?
  This is truly off the top of my head at this moment and please excuse grammatical errors.
  Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors; I have no tolerance for software tools that make my life harder.
  BTW, please excuse any spelling mistakes as this keyboard is slightly out of alignment, key size wise to mine, and I keep hitting the wrong keys.
  "Well, excuse my rudeness, but where's the money you owe me?
  I'm too tired to edit, so excuse any typos.
  She escorted the couple inside, told them to ‘please excuse the mess,’ and did the mini-tour.
  I know it's not exactly a hot date (excuse the pun).
  Please excuse the typos and misspellings, I sometimes forget to spell-check when I'm outraged.
  Excuse my ignorance but what is DMT?
  I'm still fooling around with it, so please excuse the mess while we fix the place up.
  Please excuse all typos and/or spelling errors, I try my best!
  Please excuse any typos or anything that doesn't make sense as my brain is not functioning well.
  Synonyms
  deliberately ignore, not take into consideration, disregard, take no notice of, take no account of, make allowances for, let pass, turn a blind eye to, wink at, blink at, connive at, pardon, forgive, condone, let someone off with, let go, sink, bury, let bygones be bygones
3. 1.3 (of a fact) serve to mitigate (a person or act)
  his ability excuses most of his faults
  Example sentencesExamples
  But that does not excuse the fact that he pled guilty to harboring aliens.
  His intentions were good, but does that really excuse the fact that he actively supported a junta responsible for ten thousand murders?
  Where the Crown can demonstrate that there was no prejudice to the accused flowing from a delay, then such proof may serve to excuse the delay.
  Lester's negativity is presumably excused by the fact that when he did care about a band, he like really cared man.
  Even though the outcome may be perfectly just, it does not in fact excuse the way in which he dealt with it.
  Understanding another's pain and motives does not excuse the acts they choose to express themselves.
  The first film's rather subdued acting could be excused by the fact that it had had to set the scene, give the background to the few people who'd never heard of the stories.
  These groups are quick to point out that no one has yet been killed in one of their attacks, as if that fact somehow excuses their other criminal activity.
  The difficulties encountered in investigations did not excuse wrongdoing on the part of gardaí, Mr McDowell said.
  Their bond is strong, strong enough to excuse murder.
  After the end of August the learning curve may have been continuing but I find that after that time there was no synergy of mutual fault which excuses any breach of the agreement by the company.
  But none of this excuses the fact that Hollywood's silence is deafening.
  Whilst this revelation doesn't excuse the way Croydon is, it does help us understand why.
  Whatever he may or may not have said to his girlfriend in no way justifies or excuses his murder.
  That, in our submission, did nothing to excuse the delinquency of discovery.
2Release (someone) from a duty or requirement.
it will not be possible to excuse you from attendance
with two objects may I be excused hockey?
Example sentencesExamples
- Her father happened to be an ardent Nazi, and when she begged him to excuse her from serving in the Hitler Youth, he staunchly refused her request.
- Since our turnaround will be quick, tell Lori that she is excused from cargo duty.
- He would soon be writing to RAZ asking the referees' body to excuse him so he could concentrate on his mayoral duties.
- Cole was not in the United squad for the Charity Shield game with Liverpool on Sunday because his wife broke a collarbone in a fall and he was excused duty.
- Thankfully, I was excused from jury duty this time.
- There's only one exception and that's if you're touring, you're excused but otherwise you must be there.
- Then he excused me from my duties for the rest of the day, and I began the long walk back to my room.
- He figured that if he helped out early enough, they would excuse him out of clean-up duty afterwards.
- Consequently, it becomes virtually impossible to convince men that a woman's gender won't excuse her from duty at some point.
- Tomorrow night, hinging on the field test, I may excuse you from the duties, but only if you pass.
- Mariah excused her for doorbell duty and we all lounged out on the floor and sofa.
- I would like to request that Elizabeth be excused from her usual duties.
- Eventually, much to my surprise, once Siana was about 8 months pregnant, Mary excused her from her duties so she could rest.
- At present there is no legal or legislative precedence, as far as we know, that automatically excuses a Muslim from jury duty in all circumstances.
- A magistrate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spared a prosecutor's vocal chords last week by excusing him from reading out a local drunk's previous convictions.
- I am excused from heavy duty by the Surgeon for ten days on account of my feeble condition.
Synonyms
let off, release, relieve, exempt, spare, absolve, free, liberate
rare dispense
1. 2.1 (used in polite formulas) allow (someone) to leave a room or gathering.
  and now, if you'll excuse us, duty calls
  Example sentencesExamples
  After she was finished, I excused her from my room, and sat beside Asona.
  Without asking to be excused he stood up and left the room through the kitchen.
  We went on and on for another hour and once again, right on time, Nurse Patz entered the room to excuse my father and send Maggie in.
  Twenty minutes later all tests had been handed in and Hector excused us from the room as the bell rang, announcing the start of a break between classes.
  Dekker was excused from the room, and three members of the Haddon Heights church took the stand.
  Lexi was glad beyond her own realization when her father stood and ushered his guests into a social room, excusing Alexis for the night.
  If every dish of the meal you've prepared is rejected, allow the child to be excused from the table until the next meal.
  Zack was quiet, then at a good moment he intervened and politely excused us and took me on a quick tour of the house.
  I finished my eggs and without asking to be excused, I retreated to the comfort of my room.
  The teacher excused him politely, and asked the class to return to their seats.
  If they truly want a private conversation then they should be polite and ask to be excused.
  Dinner was awkward, and Chris went upstairs to his own hotel room as soon as he could be excused.
  Ryla politely asked to be excused and returned to her diligent watch over Moon.
  Finally, after all the dishes and pots had been cleaned and put away Enela was excused to her room.
  She smiled and she politely excused them from the painful conversation.
  Soon, Nathaniel excused her, and she quickly stalked from the room, storming up above to Silver Beard's cabin.
  He stopped dead in his tracks and waited to be formerly excused from the room.
  Alison without even asking to be excused quietly got up and left the room.
  Other wise all of the women and children present would have to either excuse themselves or sit there all day waiting for it to be done with.
  But for now you will be excused from class and go straight to your room and sleep, is that clear?
2. 2.2excuse oneself Say politely that one is leaving.
  I had to excuse myself and go out of the room
  Example sentencesExamples
  I politely excuse myself and scurry out the door feeling like a guilty and confused child who's just walked in on something they don't quite understand and somehow feel bad about.
  I politely excused myself, saying that it had actually been a nice time.
  After finding the employee who called his name, he politely excused himself and disappeared.
  Needless to say, I put on my best smile and shook each of their hands, answering their questions politely before excusing myself to my room.
  The doctor nodded to both of them then excused himself from the room.
  Paulo politely excused himself noting the amount of work still left to do.
  And we politely excused ourselves and scheduled another date for that shoot.
  He politely excuses himself, explaining that he hasn't slept a wink in the past two days.
  Halfway through our interview, Vernon politely excuses himself to speak with one of his distributors who has stopped in with a delivery - he's also brought his wife who Vernon has never met.
  Fortunately, Scott had enough composure to be able to excuse himself politely.
3. 2.3be excused (used by school pupils) be allowed to leave the room, especially to go to the toilet.
  please, Miss, can I be excused?
  Example sentencesExamples
  He asked to be excused from the class for a moment and exited the room.

noun ɛkˈskjuːsɪkˈskjuːsɪkˈskjus

1A reason or explanation given to justify a fault or offence.
there can be no excuse for any further delay
the excuse that half the team failed to turn up
Example sentencesExamples
- Outsiders, when brought before the court on charges of drunkenness, invariably pleaded to drinking too much of the local cider as the excuse for their offences.
- The newest excuse for sickness and probably the next bandwagon to jump on for a claim is sick building syndrome.
- A cultural practice that is manifestly wrong on humanist grounds becomes the excuse for a colonizing mission whose tactics are in turn violent and unjust.
- She glared at Sean with a look that conveyed that she didn't buy his excuse for a second.
- What was my excuse for being absent the last day?
- However, there's also a statutory defence for the defence to show that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to turn up.
- Let's hope that this does not become an excuse for formally launching operations prior to consensus building efforts.
- This is not by way of an excuse for my subsequent behaviour, rather some explanation.
- So I just stood, open-mouthed, floundering, desperately trying to think up a reasonable excuse for not having shopped there recently.
- She told the court there had been a reasonable excuse for having them there.
- This is true, without any exception for the effects of climate, which some have set up as a kind of justification or excuse for the enforcement of compulsory labour.
Synonyms
justification, defence, reason, explanation, mitigating circumstances, mitigation, extenuation, palliation, vindication
grounds, cause, basis, call
argument, apology, apologia, plea
1. 1.1 A reason put forward to conceal the real reason for an action; a pretext.
  as an excuse to get out of the house she went to post a letter
  Example sentencesExamples
  It can be said that Tuesday night is the one night when there is no real excuse to party.
  She is using the thesis as an excuse to write up all of her unpublished data, but she has no experience with this.
  Were scheduling conflicts an excuse or a real factor in your relationship?
  The excuse usually put forward by former Communists for their support of the Great Terror in the 1930s is that they did not know what was really going on in the Soviet Union.
  We find pretexts and excuses to nip through the main room to check on David, bringing him half an orange, a chunk of chocolate, so he knows we're still thinking of him.
  Though most of the dialog gives the impression the film is interested in who the real killer is the murder plot line is really an excuse to throw attractive and dangerous men into Fanny's depressed life.
  Using the death of a friend as an excuse to write a strip about how many women he used and discarded in one year?
  Some movies these days just seem like veiled excuses for their real purpose: putting together a groovy sound-track.
  In your cartoons, you make fun of people who use Internet activism as an excuse to avoid real activism.
  Cynics advanced the view that the police attitude was merely an excuse and that the real reason was the fear that the hoped-for field would not materialise.
  The research was interesting and seemingly never ending, and I realized at one point I was using research as an excuse to avoid writing.
  The day most Americans looked forward to as either a great excuse to go traveling for no real reason or a few days off from work.
  The usual excuse is put forward - it will provide more jobs.
  The new law could be for child safety, but it could also be an easy excuse to write more tickets.
  Kym kicked 2 goals and his team won the game but his real excuse to take the day off on Monday arrived at 3.30 that morning.
  The Patriot Act was put forward as an excuse and I was asked to reapply.
  They may be accused of exaggerating their symptoms or just looking for an excuse to get out of working.
  Students also believed their colleagues use age as an excuse to mask their real reasons for not returning to school, whatever those reasons might be.
  Similarly, the ISC restated the familiar excuses put forward to explain away the critical failures: chiefly a shortage of cash from government.
  Synonyms
  pretext, ostensible reason, pretence, front, cover-up, fabrication, evasion
  informal story, alibi, line, cop-out
  British informal get-out
2. 1.2US A note written by a doctor or parent excusing a pupil from school.
  Example sentencesExamples
  A police spokesman said he was angry over being expelled from school after forging a doctor's note as an excuse to stay off school and play truant.
  And on my way over here, I swung by Kara and Zach's houses, and picked up excuse notes from their parents too.
  Smiling, he found the doctor had left an excuse note for him to take.
  A faint smell of shampoo is left in the wake and an excuse note flutters onto Mr. Ruther's desk.
  It was an excuse note for getting me out of my morning class… except without the blanks.
  Finally, his doc wrote him an excuse from P.E. and we didn't have the problem again.
2an excuse forinformal A poor or inadequate example of.
that pathetic excuse for a man!
Example sentencesExamples
- Not believing my first kiss had been with that pathetic excuse of a man, one that I didn't even know.
- This pathetic excuse of a party is an embarrassment to us all.
- I apologize for the poor excuse of an update today, but I'm tired.
- He felt betrayal, he felt used and most of all he felt stupid and embarrassed especially for buying such an expensive gift for this poor excuse of a woman.
- They're all bands that you've never heard of, you poor excuse of an indie music listener!
- Some sites have developed into good news portals which have adjusted to the way the web is moving, others are just a poor excuse of their printed version.
- She shuddered at the thought of marrying that poor excuse of a man.
- That good for nothing, poor excuse of a human being.
- Often not at home, either out with some rich associate or with some pathetic excuse of a girl.
- Aye, we're a poor, pathetic wee excuse for a nation right enough.
Synonyms
travesty of, apology for, poor specimen of, pitiful example of, mockery of
pale shadow of, poor imitation of

Phrases

excuse me

1Used as a polite apology in various contexts, such as when attempting to get someone's attention, asking someone to move so that one may pass, or interrupting a speaker.
Example sentencesExamples
- Now, excuse me for butting in like this, Germaine, but, putting this politely, albeit, bluntly: is this really true?
- They are all up in my personal space so I say excuse me and move away but they keep looking at me.
- When he finished eating, he stood up with a small polite excuse me and placed his dish in the sink, quickly heading up to Wes' room.
- Now in 99% of cases with the subway as packed as it was someone would enter, say excuse me and make her move her bag.
- The last hole looked out to a torture chamber - excuse me - an interrogation room.
- I was pulled passed bunches of people, yelling excuse me and avoiding swinging elbows.
- Excuse me for interrupting, Amy, this is Jack Cafferty.
- Excuse me, do you have this in a size nine and a half?
1. 1.1North American Used to ask someone to repeat what they have just said.
  Synonyms
  what did you say, what, eh, i beg your pardon, beg pardon, sorry, excuse me, say again

make one's excuses

Say politely that one is leaving or cannot be present.
Will made his excuses and retired to his room
Example sentencesExamples
- Amanda in that moment made her excuses and politely left the room.
- I politely made my excuses as I headed off leaving the two gents of the night to their business.
- We made our excuses and left, leaving the presents behind to be opened another day, stringing out Christmas yet further.
- I will be making my excuses to parties this person throws from now on.
- The only difference is while I enjoy dancing, John makes his excuses whenever we mention teaching him the steps.
- I presumed you would politely make your excuses and leave, the moment my world became calm, normal, mundane.
- But before I could make my excuses and leave, they made their excuses and left.
- I try not to entertain the doubts; I leave them sitting in the corner, reading material out of reach, and hope they'll get bored and make their excuses.
- Some of us took the opportunity to make our excuses and hit for the nearest McDonald's (not too far away, of course).
- He let them into his home and was making them a drink while they searched the house before making their excuses and leaving.

Derivatives

excusatory

adjective ɪkˈskjuːzətriɪkˈskjuzəˌtɔri

Seeking to excuse or justify a fault or offence.
excusatory comments
Example sentencesExamples
- his excusatory version of events
- Only these creatures would apply an excusatory tone to the release of product shipment figures that show a significant increase in sales.
- It is one thing to leave the rules open-ended when persons are unlikely to rely on them (as with the excusatory defences discussed in Chapter 6), although even there the value of consistent judicial decisions should not be overlooked.
- He has started rationalizing and making excusatory comments for the Dems.

Origin

Middle English: from Old French escuser (verb), from Latin excusare 'to free from blame', from ex- 'out' + causa 'accusation, cause'.

This comes via Old French from Latin excusare ‘to free from blame’, from ex- ‘out’ and causa ‘accusation, cause’.

Rhymes

abstruse, abuse, adduce, Ballets Russes, Belarus, Bruce, burnous, caboose, charlotte russe, conduce, deduce, deuce, diffuse, douce, educe, goose, induce, introduce, juice, Larousse, loose, luce, misuse, moose, mousse, noose, obtuse, Palouse, produce, profuse, puce, recluse, reduce, Rousse, seduce, sluice, Sousse, spruce, traduce, truce, use, vamoose, Zeus abuse, accuse, adieux, amuse, bemuse, billets-doux, blues, booze, bruise, choose, Clews, confuse, contuse, cruise, cruse, Cruz, diffuse, do's, Druze, effuse, enthuse, fuse (US fuze), Hughes, incuse, interfuse, lose, Mahfouz, mews, misuse, muse, news, ooze, Ouse, perfuse, peruse, rhythm-and-blues, ruse, schmooze, snooze, suffuse, Toulouse, transfuse, trews, use, Vaduz, Veracruz, who's, whose, youse

Definition of excuse in US English:

excuse

verbɪkˈskjuzikˈskyo͞oz

[with object]

1Attempt to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offense); seek to defend or justify.
he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty
Example sentencesExamples
- Now, I'm not for a minute going to excuse those crimes.
- That doesn't excuse his sin, it compounds it since he, of all people, should know better.
- Since men who've known the horror and stress of war would not excuse such crimes why are so many conservatives willing to do so?
- You did not excuse the wrongdoings of the executives involved in the recently uncovered corporate scandals.
- Apart from our penchant for ritual, in matters of corruption it is our fondness of explaining and excusing the crime that is most visible.
- There are prisoners from Louisiana excusing their crimes by blaming boredom.
- The prosecution suggested she had manufactured and exaggerated the abuse to excuse murder.
- From the time they were boys, others have fawned over them, winked at their flaws, excused their peccadilloes.
- I don't mean to excuse the crimes committed in the name of anticommunism.
- The media should refrain from reporting on events staged by politicians trying to excuse their own misconduct or making unfounded accusations.
- In my opinion, excusing complicit parties excuses rape itself.
- To excuse sin as sickness is a tempting way to avoid responsibility.
- If the violence weren't emphasized, the cops and courts would go on excusing the crime as an excess of boyishness provoked by flashy dress, raging hormones, dirty music, and too much junk food.
- It is a power in the Court to excuse breaches of trust.
- You can't excuse murder just because you want to sue the drug companies or the doctors on the back end.
- Without in any way excusing horrible atrocities against civilians, it is crucial to understand the use of violence, even terror, in terms that go beyond a single individual.
- Without the confession of faith we are bound to rationalize our actions, excuse our sins, and dodge the law's accusation.
- He does not make himself anonymous by excusing his errors and sins as functions of inauspicious circumstances or bad social influences.
- If I so glibly excused the murder of children, I wouldn't be able to stand my own reflection either.
- The following year, he told the conference: ‘No one but a fool would excuse crime on the basis of social conditions.’
Synonyms
justify, defend, make excuses for, make a case for, explain, explain away, rationalize, condone, vindicate, warrant
1. 1.1 Forgive (someone) for a fault or offense.
  you must excuse my sister
  he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time
  Example sentencesExamples
  Looking at the world today and comparing the respective positions of education and catastrophe, one could be excused for thinking that education was lagging far behind.
  Please excuse me for not telling you more than this.
  Shareholders could be excused for thinking the Three Stooges could do better, and maybe they could.
  Cricketers around the country know all about his prowess, although Ricky Ponting could be excused for having hardly heard of him.
  Next time your electricity or gas bill comes thumping through the door on to the mat, you could be excused for not being too sure you can trust it.
  These would be feats never previously achieved and one could be excused for thinking of them as over-ambitious.
  Our party doesn't defend the corrupt or excuse them.
  In the circumstances, Sutton could be excused for not cutting a dash.
  ‘You have to excuse my room mate, she is a little delusional it looks like,’ I heard Penelope plead.
  In these circumstances, perhaps Capriati could be excused for growing rattled and her temper exploded at 15-30 in the second game of the second set.
  Meanwhile, staff at the paper could be excused for wondering how their boss manages to edit the paper when he is so busy brushing up his broadcasting techniques.
  Frail elderly people could be excused for imagining that our society offers them little beyond goodwill, sympathy, and the hope that they will stay out of sight.
  ‘You must excuse my friend - she's a little hard of hearing,’ Nate put in quickly.
  One could be excused for thinking that the orchestration of realignment had become a target of the major parties as their relationship with the electorate weakened, and they looked to experts to advise them.
  Vogts, who these days could be excused for celebrating even a narrow defeat, found himself frustrated that he had been forced to settle for a draw.
  Indeed, so pronounced is the change that one could be excused for talking about the ‘corruption of Christmas’.
  This sort of thing seems surreal to Ranch, the Minor League Player of the Year, so you'll have to excuse him if he does not seem excited.
  Scoring was particularly good and some of the placed players could be excused for assuming that they might have had the winning score.
  After the horrors of the past year, Gardner could be excused for wanting a quieter life away from frontline journalism.
  By the start of Round 7, Leonard could be excused for wondering why he'd bothered to promote this particular fight.
  Synonyms
  forgive, pardon, absolve, exonerate, acquit
2. 1.2 Overlook or forgive (a fault or offense)
  sit down—excuse the mess
  Example sentencesExamples
  I'm still fooling around with it, so please excuse the mess while we fix the place up.
  Missing an update is a small thing and readers will excuse the occasional lapse.
  Please excuse any typos or anything that doesn't make sense as my brain is not functioning well.
  Please excuse all typos and/or spelling errors, I try my best!
  I'm too tired to edit, so excuse any typos.
  This is truly off the top of my head at this moment and please excuse grammatical errors.
  Please excuse the typos and misspellings, I sometimes forget to spell-check when I'm outraged.
  But it is these days difficult to avoid the tangled mess of geopolitical analysis, so please excuse my taking liberties this week.
  Please excuse any misspellings or nonsensical happenings… I have my moments.
  The songs do seem awkward at times as the tight story-line doesn't allow any gaps, but even this can be excused as the songs are very good.
  She escorted the couple inside, told them to ‘please excuse the mess,’ and did the mini-tour.
  I won't get to post until after I do Sunrise so newbie readers, excuse the mess.
  Please excuse the current lack of more original postings on this blog.
  BTW, please excuse any spelling mistakes as this keyboard is slightly out of alignment, key size wise to mine, and I keep hitting the wrong keys.
  Excuse my ignorance but what is DMT?
  "Well, excuse my rudeness, but where's the money you owe me?
  Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors; I have no tolerance for software tools that make my life harder.
  I know it's not exactly a hot date (excuse the pun).
  Excuse my ignorance, can you please tell me who Mr Boas is?
  Finally, the most fruitful source of food (please excuse the pun) was from the economy.
  Synonyms
  deliberately ignore, not take into consideration, disregard, take no notice of, take no account of, make allowances for, let pass, turn a blind eye to, wink at, blink at, connive at, pardon, forgive, condone, let someone off with, let go, sink, bury, let bygones be bygones
3. 1.3 (of a fact or circumstance) serve in mitigation of (a person or act)
  his ability excuses most of his faults
  Example sentencesExamples
  After the end of August the learning curve may have been continuing but I find that after that time there was no synergy of mutual fault which excuses any breach of the agreement by the company.
  Even though the outcome may be perfectly just, it does not in fact excuse the way in which he dealt with it.
  These groups are quick to point out that no one has yet been killed in one of their attacks, as if that fact somehow excuses their other criminal activity.
  But that does not excuse the fact that he pled guilty to harboring aliens.
  The difficulties encountered in investigations did not excuse wrongdoing on the part of gardaí, Mr McDowell said.
  Lester's negativity is presumably excused by the fact that when he did care about a band, he like really cared man.
  Whilst this revelation doesn't excuse the way Croydon is, it does help us understand why.
  His intentions were good, but does that really excuse the fact that he actively supported a junta responsible for ten thousand murders?
  Where the Crown can demonstrate that there was no prejudice to the accused flowing from a delay, then such proof may serve to excuse the delay.
  The first film's rather subdued acting could be excused by the fact that it had had to set the scene, give the background to the few people who'd never heard of the stories.
  Whatever he may or may not have said to his girlfriend in no way justifies or excuses his murder.
  Understanding another's pain and motives does not excuse the acts they choose to express themselves.
  That, in our submission, did nothing to excuse the delinquency of discovery.
  Their bond is strong, strong enough to excuse murder.
  But none of this excuses the fact that Hollywood's silence is deafening.
2Release (someone) from a duty or requirement.
it will not be possible to excuse you from jury duty
Example sentencesExamples
- Cole was not in the United squad for the Charity Shield game with Liverpool on Sunday because his wife broke a collarbone in a fall and he was excused duty.
- A magistrate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spared a prosecutor's vocal chords last week by excusing him from reading out a local drunk's previous convictions.
- I would like to request that Elizabeth be excused from her usual duties.
- Consequently, it becomes virtually impossible to convince men that a woman's gender won't excuse her from duty at some point.
- Mariah excused her for doorbell duty and we all lounged out on the floor and sofa.
- Since our turnaround will be quick, tell Lori that she is excused from cargo duty.
- Eventually, much to my surprise, once Siana was about 8 months pregnant, Mary excused her from her duties so she could rest.
- Tomorrow night, hinging on the field test, I may excuse you from the duties, but only if you pass.
- Her father happened to be an ardent Nazi, and when she begged him to excuse her from serving in the Hitler Youth, he staunchly refused her request.
- At present there is no legal or legislative precedence, as far as we know, that automatically excuses a Muslim from jury duty in all circumstances.
- There's only one exception and that's if you're touring, you're excused but otherwise you must be there.
- He would soon be writing to RAZ asking the referees' body to excuse him so he could concentrate on his mayoral duties.
- He figured that if he helped out early enough, they would excuse him out of clean-up duty afterwards.
- I am excused from heavy duty by the Surgeon for ten days on account of my feeble condition.
- Then he excused me from my duties for the rest of the day, and I began the long walk back to my room.
- Thankfully, I was excused from jury duty this time.
Synonyms
let off, release, relieve, exempt, spare, absolve, free, liberate
1. 2.1 (used in polite formulas) allow (someone) to leave a room or gathering.
  now, if you'll excuse us, we have to be getting along
  Example sentencesExamples
  Alison without even asking to be excused quietly got up and left the room.
  Ryla politely asked to be excused and returned to her diligent watch over Moon.
  Twenty minutes later all tests had been handed in and Hector excused us from the room as the bell rang, announcing the start of a break between classes.
  Finally, after all the dishes and pots had been cleaned and put away Enela was excused to her room.
  After she was finished, I excused her from my room, and sat beside Asona.
  Without asking to be excused he stood up and left the room through the kitchen.
  But for now you will be excused from class and go straight to your room and sleep, is that clear?
  He stopped dead in his tracks and waited to be formerly excused from the room.
  The teacher excused him politely, and asked the class to return to their seats.
  We went on and on for another hour and once again, right on time, Nurse Patz entered the room to excuse my father and send Maggie in.
  She smiled and she politely excused them from the painful conversation.
  If they truly want a private conversation then they should be polite and ask to be excused.
  Dekker was excused from the room, and three members of the Haddon Heights church took the stand.
  Dinner was awkward, and Chris went upstairs to his own hotel room as soon as he could be excused.
  Zack was quiet, then at a good moment he intervened and politely excused us and took me on a quick tour of the house.
  Soon, Nathaniel excused her, and she quickly stalked from the room, storming up above to Silver Beard's cabin.
  I finished my eggs and without asking to be excused, I retreated to the comfort of my room.
  If every dish of the meal you've prepared is rejected, allow the child to be excused from the table until the next meal.
  Other wise all of the women and children present would have to either excuse themselves or sit there all day waiting for it to be done with.
  Lexi was glad beyond her own realization when her father stood and ushered his guests into a social room, excusing Alexis for the night.
2. 2.2excuse oneself Say politely that one is leaving.
  Example sentencesExamples
  After finding the employee who called his name, he politely excused himself and disappeared.
  And we politely excused ourselves and scheduled another date for that shoot.
  The doctor nodded to both of them then excused himself from the room.
  Needless to say, I put on my best smile and shook each of their hands, answering their questions politely before excusing myself to my room.
  I politely excused myself, saying that it had actually been a nice time.
  I politely excuse myself and scurry out the door feeling like a guilty and confused child who's just walked in on something they don't quite understand and somehow feel bad about.
  Halfway through our interview, Vernon politely excuses himself to speak with one of his distributors who has stopped in with a delivery - he's also brought his wife who Vernon has never met.
  Fortunately, Scott had enough composure to be able to excuse himself politely.
  He politely excuses himself, explaining that he hasn't slept a wink in the past two days.
  Paulo politely excused himself noting the amount of work still left to do.
3. 2.3be excused (used especially by school pupils) be allowed to leave the room, especially to go to the bathroom.
  please, can I be excused?
  Example sentencesExamples
  He asked to be excused from the class for a moment and exited the room.

nounikˈskyo͞osɪkˈskjus

1A reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense.
there can be no possible excuse for any further delay
no one will have the excuse that they didn’t know
Example sentencesExamples
- She told the court there had been a reasonable excuse for having them there.
- Outsiders, when brought before the court on charges of drunkenness, invariably pleaded to drinking too much of the local cider as the excuse for their offences.
- A cultural practice that is manifestly wrong on humanist grounds becomes the excuse for a colonizing mission whose tactics are in turn violent and unjust.
- This is not by way of an excuse for my subsequent behaviour, rather some explanation.
- So I just stood, open-mouthed, floundering, desperately trying to think up a reasonable excuse for not having shopped there recently.
- This is true, without any exception for the effects of climate, which some have set up as a kind of justification or excuse for the enforcement of compulsory labour.
- Let's hope that this does not become an excuse for formally launching operations prior to consensus building efforts.
- She glared at Sean with a look that conveyed that she didn't buy his excuse for a second.
- What was my excuse for being absent the last day?
- However, there's also a statutory defence for the defence to show that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to turn up.
- The newest excuse for sickness and probably the next bandwagon to jump on for a claim is sick building syndrome.
Synonyms
justification, defence, reason, explanation, mitigating circumstances, mitigation, extenuation, palliation, vindication
1. 1.1 A reason put forward to conceal the real reason for an action; a pretext.
  when the rain started he used it as an excuse to leave early
  Example sentencesExamples
  The excuse usually put forward by former Communists for their support of the Great Terror in the 1930s is that they did not know what was really going on in the Soviet Union.
  Cynics advanced the view that the police attitude was merely an excuse and that the real reason was the fear that the hoped-for field would not materialise.
  The day most Americans looked forward to as either a great excuse to go traveling for no real reason or a few days off from work.
  Though most of the dialog gives the impression the film is interested in who the real killer is the murder plot line is really an excuse to throw attractive and dangerous men into Fanny's depressed life.
  Using the death of a friend as an excuse to write a strip about how many women he used and discarded in one year?
  The new law could be for child safety, but it could also be an easy excuse to write more tickets.
  The Patriot Act was put forward as an excuse and I was asked to reapply.
  In your cartoons, you make fun of people who use Internet activism as an excuse to avoid real activism.
  Kym kicked 2 goals and his team won the game but his real excuse to take the day off on Monday arrived at 3.30 that morning.
  Similarly, the ISC restated the familiar excuses put forward to explain away the critical failures: chiefly a shortage of cash from government.
  We find pretexts and excuses to nip through the main room to check on David, bringing him half an orange, a chunk of chocolate, so he knows we're still thinking of him.
  It can be said that Tuesday night is the one night when there is no real excuse to party.
  The usual excuse is put forward - it will provide more jobs.
  The research was interesting and seemingly never ending, and I realized at one point I was using research as an excuse to avoid writing.
  They may be accused of exaggerating their symptoms or just looking for an excuse to get out of working.
  Some movies these days just seem like veiled excuses for their real purpose: putting together a groovy sound-track.
  Were scheduling conflicts an excuse or a real factor in your relationship?
  She is using the thesis as an excuse to write up all of her unpublished data, but she has no experience with this.
  Students also believed their colleagues use age as an excuse to mask their real reasons for not returning to school, whatever those reasons might be.
  Synonyms
  pretext, ostensible reason, pretence, front, cover-up, fabrication, evasion
2an excuse forinformal A poor or inadequate example of.
that pathetic excuse for a man!
Example sentencesExamples
- Aye, we're a poor, pathetic wee excuse for a nation right enough.
- Not believing my first kiss had been with that pathetic excuse of a man, one that I didn't even know.
- They're all bands that you've never heard of, you poor excuse of an indie music listener!
- Some sites have developed into good news portals which have adjusted to the way the web is moving, others are just a poor excuse of their printed version.
- I apologize for the poor excuse of an update today, but I'm tired.
- This pathetic excuse of a party is an embarrassment to us all.
- Often not at home, either out with some rich associate or with some pathetic excuse of a girl.
- He felt betrayal, he felt used and most of all he felt stupid and embarrassed especially for buying such an expensive gift for this poor excuse of a woman.
- She shuddered at the thought of marrying that poor excuse of a man.
- That good for nothing, poor excuse of a human being.
Synonyms
travesty of, apology for, poor specimen of, pitiful example of, mockery of

Phrases

excuse me

1Said politely in various contexts, for example when attempting to get someone's attention, asking someone to move so that one may pass, or interrupting or disagreeing with a speaker.
Example sentencesExamples
- Excuse me for interrupting, Amy, this is Jack Cafferty.
- Now, excuse me for butting in like this, Germaine, but, putting this politely, albeit, bluntly: is this really true?
- The last hole looked out to a torture chamber - excuse me - an interrogation room.
- Excuse me, do you have this in a size nine and a half?
- Now in 99% of cases with the subway as packed as it was someone would enter, say excuse me and make her move her bag.
- I was pulled passed bunches of people, yelling excuse me and avoiding swinging elbows.
- When he finished eating, he stood up with a small polite excuse me and placed his dish in the sink, quickly heading up to Wes' room.
- They are all up in my personal space so I say excuse me and move away but they keep looking at me.
1. 1.1North American Said when asking someone to repeat what they have just said.
  Synonyms
  what did you say, what, eh, i beg your pardon, beg pardon, sorry, excuse me, say again

make one's excuses

Say politely that one is leaving or cannot be present.
Example sentencesExamples
- I presumed you would politely make your excuses and leave, the moment my world became calm, normal, mundane.
- He let them into his home and was making them a drink while they searched the house before making their excuses and leaving.
- I will be making my excuses to parties this person throws from now on.
- I try not to entertain the doubts; I leave them sitting in the corner, reading material out of reach, and hope they'll get bored and make their excuses.
- But before I could make my excuses and leave, they made their excuses and left.
- Some of us took the opportunity to make our excuses and hit for the nearest McDonald's (not too far away, of course).
- I politely made my excuses as I headed off leaving the two gents of the night to their business.
- The only difference is while I enjoy dancing, John makes his excuses whenever we mention teaching him the steps.
- We made our excuses and left, leaving the presents behind to be opened another day, stringing out Christmas yet further.
- Amanda in that moment made her excuses and politely left the room.

Origin

Middle English: from Old French escuser (verb), from Latin excusare ‘to free from blame’, from ex- ‘out’ + causa ‘accusation, cause’.

单词	excuse
释义	Definition of excuse in English: excuse verb ɪkˈskjuːzɛkˈskjuːzɪkˈskjuz [with object] 1Seek to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offence); try to justify. he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty Example sentencesExamples Without in any way excusing horrible atrocities against civilians, it is crucial to understand the use of violence, even terror, in terms that go beyond a single individual. You did not excuse the wrongdoings of the executives involved in the recently uncovered corporate scandals. He does not make himself anonymous by excusing his errors and sins as functions of inauspicious circumstances or bad social influences. Since men who've known the horror and stress of war would not excuse such crimes why are so many conservatives willing to do so? The following year, he told the conference: ‘No one but a fool would excuse crime on the basis of social conditions.’ I don't mean to excuse the crimes committed in the name of anticommunism. To excuse sin as sickness is a tempting way to avoid responsibility. The prosecution suggested she had manufactured and exaggerated the abuse to excuse murder. Now, I'm not for a minute going to excuse those crimes. That doesn't excuse his sin, it compounds it since he, of all people, should know better. There are prisoners from Louisiana excusing their crimes by blaming boredom. From the time they were boys, others have fawned over them, winked at their flaws, excused their peccadilloes. The media should refrain from reporting on events staged by politicians trying to excuse their own misconduct or making unfounded accusations. Without the confession of faith we are bound to rationalize our actions, excuse our sins, and dodge the law's accusation. It is a power in the Court to excuse breaches of trust. You can't excuse murder just because you want to sue the drug companies or the doctors on the back end. If I so glibly excused the murder of children, I wouldn't be able to stand my own reflection either. In my opinion, excusing complicit parties excuses rape itself. Apart from our penchant for ritual, in matters of corruption it is our fondness of explaining and excusing the crime that is most visible. If the violence weren't emphasized, the cops and courts would go on excusing the crime as an excess of boyishness provoked by flashy dress, raging hormones, dirty music, and too much junk food. Synonyms justify, defend, make excuses for, make a case for, explain (away), rationalize, condone, vindicate, warrant mitigate, palliate apologize for forgive, overlook, disregard, ignore, pass over, turn a blind eye to, turn a deaf ear to, wink at, blink at, indulge, tolerate, sanction rare extenuate 1.1 Forgive (someone) for a fault or offence. you must excuse my brother he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time Example sentencesExamples Looking at the world today and comparing the respective positions of education and catastrophe, one could be excused for thinking that education was lagging far behind. Indeed, so pronounced is the change that one could be excused for talking about the ‘corruption of Christmas’. After the horrors of the past year, Gardner could be excused for wanting a quieter life away from frontline journalism. One could be excused for thinking that the orchestration of realignment had become a target of the major parties as their relationship with the electorate weakened, and they looked to experts to advise them. Vogts, who these days could be excused for celebrating even a narrow defeat, found himself frustrated that he had been forced to settle for a draw. Next time your electricity or gas bill comes thumping through the door on to the mat, you could be excused for not being too sure you can trust it. These would be feats never previously achieved and one could be excused for thinking of them as over-ambitious. Please excuse me for not telling you more than this. Cricketers around the country know all about his prowess, although Ricky Ponting could be excused for having hardly heard of him. Frail elderly people could be excused for imagining that our society offers them little beyond goodwill, sympathy, and the hope that they will stay out of sight. This sort of thing seems surreal to Ranch, the Minor League Player of the Year, so you'll have to excuse him if he does not seem excited. Meanwhile, staff at the paper could be excused for wondering how their boss manages to edit the paper when he is so busy brushing up his broadcasting techniques. Our party doesn't defend the corrupt or excuse them. In these circumstances, perhaps Capriati could be excused for growing rattled and her temper exploded at 15-30 in the second game of the second set. Scoring was particularly good and some of the placed players could be excused for assuming that they might have had the winning score. Shareholders could be excused for thinking the Three Stooges could do better, and maybe they could. ‘You must excuse my friend - she's a little hard of hearing,’ Nate put in quickly. By the start of Round 7, Leonard could be excused for wondering why he'd bothered to promote this particular fight. ‘You have to excuse my room mate, she is a little delusional it looks like,’ I heard Penelope plead. In the circumstances, Sutton could be excused for not cutting a dash. Synonyms forgive, pardon, absolve, exonerate, acquit make allowances for informal let someone off (the hook) rare exculpate 1.2 Overlook or make allowances for. sit down—excuse the mess Example sentencesExamples Please excuse any misspellings or nonsensical happenings… I have my moments. Please excuse the current lack of more original postings on this blog. Missing an update is a small thing and readers will excuse the occasional lapse. But it is these days difficult to avoid the tangled mess of geopolitical analysis, so please excuse my taking liberties this week. The songs do seem awkward at times as the tight story-line doesn't allow any gaps, but even this can be excused as the songs are very good. I won't get to post until after I do Sunrise so newbie readers, excuse the mess. Finally, the most fruitful source of food (please excuse the pun) was from the economy. Excuse my ignorance, can you please tell me who Mr Boas is? This is truly off the top of my head at this moment and please excuse grammatical errors. Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors; I have no tolerance for software tools that make my life harder. BTW, please excuse any spelling mistakes as this keyboard is slightly out of alignment, key size wise to mine, and I keep hitting the wrong keys. "Well, excuse my rudeness, but where's the money you owe me? I'm too tired to edit, so excuse any typos. She escorted the couple inside, told them to ‘please excuse the mess,’ and did the mini-tour. I know it's not exactly a hot date (excuse the pun). Please excuse the typos and misspellings, I sometimes forget to spell-check when I'm outraged. Excuse my ignorance but what is DMT? I'm still fooling around with it, so please excuse the mess while we fix the place up. Please excuse all typos and/or spelling errors, I try my best! Please excuse any typos or anything that doesn't make sense as my brain is not functioning well. Synonyms deliberately ignore, not take into consideration, disregard, take no notice of, take no account of, make allowances for, let pass, turn a blind eye to, wink at, blink at, connive at, pardon, forgive, condone, let someone off with, let go, sink, bury, let bygones be bygones 1.3 (of a fact) serve to mitigate (a person or act) his ability excuses most of his faults Example sentencesExamples But that does not excuse the fact that he pled guilty to harboring aliens. His intentions were good, but does that really excuse the fact that he actively supported a junta responsible for ten thousand murders? Where the Crown can demonstrate that there was no prejudice to the accused flowing from a delay, then such proof may serve to excuse the delay. Lester's negativity is presumably excused by the fact that when he did care about a band, he like really cared man. Even though the outcome may be perfectly just, it does not in fact excuse the way in which he dealt with it. Understanding another's pain and motives does not excuse the acts they choose to express themselves. The first film's rather subdued acting could be excused by the fact that it had had to set the scene, give the background to the few people who'd never heard of the stories. These groups are quick to point out that no one has yet been killed in one of their attacks, as if that fact somehow excuses their other criminal activity. The difficulties encountered in investigations did not excuse wrongdoing on the part of gardaí, Mr McDowell said. Their bond is strong, strong enough to excuse murder. After the end of August the learning curve may have been continuing but I find that after that time there was no synergy of mutual fault which excuses any breach of the agreement by the company. But none of this excuses the fact that Hollywood's silence is deafening. Whilst this revelation doesn't excuse the way Croydon is, it does help us understand why. Whatever he may or may not have said to his girlfriend in no way justifies or excuses his murder. That, in our submission, did nothing to excuse the delinquency of discovery. 2Release (someone) from a duty or requirement. it will not be possible to excuse you from attendance with two objects may I be excused hockey? Example sentencesExamples Her father happened to be an ardent Nazi, and when she begged him to excuse her from serving in the Hitler Youth, he staunchly refused her request. Since our turnaround will be quick, tell Lori that she is excused from cargo duty. He would soon be writing to RAZ asking the referees' body to excuse him so he could concentrate on his mayoral duties. Cole was not in the United squad for the Charity Shield game with Liverpool on Sunday because his wife broke a collarbone in a fall and he was excused duty. Thankfully, I was excused from jury duty this time. There's only one exception and that's if you're touring, you're excused but otherwise you must be there. Then he excused me from my duties for the rest of the day, and I began the long walk back to my room. He figured that if he helped out early enough, they would excuse him out of clean-up duty afterwards. Consequently, it becomes virtually impossible to convince men that a woman's gender won't excuse her from duty at some point. Tomorrow night, hinging on the field test, I may excuse you from the duties, but only if you pass. Mariah excused her for doorbell duty and we all lounged out on the floor and sofa. I would like to request that Elizabeth be excused from her usual duties. Eventually, much to my surprise, once Siana was about 8 months pregnant, Mary excused her from her duties so she could rest. At present there is no legal or legislative precedence, as far as we know, that automatically excuses a Muslim from jury duty in all circumstances. A magistrate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spared a prosecutor's vocal chords last week by excusing him from reading out a local drunk's previous convictions. I am excused from heavy duty by the Surgeon for ten days on account of my feeble condition. Synonyms let off, release, relieve, exempt, spare, absolve, free, liberate rare dispense 2.1 (used in polite formulas) allow (someone) to leave a room or gathering. and now, if you'll excuse us, duty calls Example sentencesExamples After she was finished, I excused her from my room, and sat beside Asona. Without asking to be excused he stood up and left the room through the kitchen. We went on and on for another hour and once again, right on time, Nurse Patz entered the room to excuse my father and send Maggie in. Twenty minutes later all tests had been handed in and Hector excused us from the room as the bell rang, announcing the start of a break between classes. Dekker was excused from the room, and three members of the Haddon Heights church took the stand. Lexi was glad beyond her own realization when her father stood and ushered his guests into a social room, excusing Alexis for the night. If every dish of the meal you've prepared is rejected, allow the child to be excused from the table until the next meal. Zack was quiet, then at a good moment he intervened and politely excused us and took me on a quick tour of the house. I finished my eggs and without asking to be excused, I retreated to the comfort of my room. The teacher excused him politely, and asked the class to return to their seats. If they truly want a private conversation then they should be polite and ask to be excused. Dinner was awkward, and Chris went upstairs to his own hotel room as soon as he could be excused. Ryla politely asked to be excused and returned to her diligent watch over Moon. Finally, after all the dishes and pots had been cleaned and put away Enela was excused to her room. She smiled and she politely excused them from the painful conversation. Soon, Nathaniel excused her, and she quickly stalked from the room, storming up above to Silver Beard's cabin. He stopped dead in his tracks and waited to be formerly excused from the room. Alison without even asking to be excused quietly got up and left the room. Other wise all of the women and children present would have to either excuse themselves or sit there all day waiting for it to be done with. But for now you will be excused from class and go straight to your room and sleep, is that clear? 2.2excuse oneself Say politely that one is leaving. I had to excuse myself and go out of the room Example sentencesExamples I politely excuse myself and scurry out the door feeling like a guilty and confused child who's just walked in on something they don't quite understand and somehow feel bad about. I politely excused myself, saying that it had actually been a nice time. After finding the employee who called his name, he politely excused himself and disappeared. Needless to say, I put on my best smile and shook each of their hands, answering their questions politely before excusing myself to my room. The doctor nodded to both of them then excused himself from the room. Paulo politely excused himself noting the amount of work still left to do. And we politely excused ourselves and scheduled another date for that shoot. He politely excuses himself, explaining that he hasn't slept a wink in the past two days. Halfway through our interview, Vernon politely excuses himself to speak with one of his distributors who has stopped in with a delivery - he's also brought his wife who Vernon has never met. Fortunately, Scott had enough composure to be able to excuse himself politely. 2.3be excused (used by school pupils) be allowed to leave the room, especially to go to the toilet. please, Miss, can I be excused? Example sentencesExamples He asked to be excused from the class for a moment and exited the room. noun ɛkˈskjuːsɪkˈskjuːsɪkˈskjus 1A reason or explanation given to justify a fault or offence. there can be no excuse for any further delay the excuse that half the team failed to turn up Example sentencesExamples Outsiders, when brought before the court on charges of drunkenness, invariably pleaded to drinking too much of the local cider as the excuse for their offences. The newest excuse for sickness and probably the next bandwagon to jump on for a claim is sick building syndrome. A cultural practice that is manifestly wrong on humanist grounds becomes the excuse for a colonizing mission whose tactics are in turn violent and unjust. She glared at Sean with a look that conveyed that she didn't buy his excuse for a second. What was my excuse for being absent the last day? However, there's also a statutory defence for the defence to show that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to turn up. Let's hope that this does not become an excuse for formally launching operations prior to consensus building efforts. This is not by way of an excuse for my subsequent behaviour, rather some explanation. So I just stood, open-mouthed, floundering, desperately trying to think up a reasonable excuse for not having shopped there recently. She told the court there had been a reasonable excuse for having them there. This is true, without any exception for the effects of climate, which some have set up as a kind of justification or excuse for the enforcement of compulsory labour. Synonyms justification, defence, reason, explanation, mitigating circumstances, mitigation, extenuation, palliation, vindication grounds, cause, basis, call argument, apology, apologia, plea 1.1 A reason put forward to conceal the real reason for an action; a pretext. as an excuse to get out of the house she went to post a letter Example sentencesExamples It can be said that Tuesday night is the one night when there is no real excuse to party. She is using the thesis as an excuse to write up all of her unpublished data, but she has no experience with this. Were scheduling conflicts an excuse or a real factor in your relationship? The excuse usually put forward by former Communists for their support of the Great Terror in the 1930s is that they did not know what was really going on in the Soviet Union. We find pretexts and excuses to nip through the main room to check on David, bringing him half an orange, a chunk of chocolate, so he knows we're still thinking of him. Though most of the dialog gives the impression the film is interested in who the real killer is the murder plot line is really an excuse to throw attractive and dangerous men into Fanny's depressed life. Using the death of a friend as an excuse to write a strip about how many women he used and discarded in one year? Some movies these days just seem like veiled excuses for their real purpose: putting together a groovy sound-track. In your cartoons, you make fun of people who use Internet activism as an excuse to avoid real activism. Cynics advanced the view that the police attitude was merely an excuse and that the real reason was the fear that the hoped-for field would not materialise. The research was interesting and seemingly never ending, and I realized at one point I was using research as an excuse to avoid writing. The day most Americans looked forward to as either a great excuse to go traveling for no real reason or a few days off from work. The usual excuse is put forward - it will provide more jobs. The new law could be for child safety, but it could also be an easy excuse to write more tickets. Kym kicked 2 goals and his team won the game but his real excuse to take the day off on Monday arrived at 3.30 that morning. The Patriot Act was put forward as an excuse and I was asked to reapply. They may be accused of exaggerating their symptoms or just looking for an excuse to get out of working. Students also believed their colleagues use age as an excuse to mask their real reasons for not returning to school, whatever those reasons might be. Similarly, the ISC restated the familiar excuses put forward to explain away the critical failures: chiefly a shortage of cash from government. Synonyms pretext, ostensible reason, pretence, front, cover-up, fabrication, evasion informal story, alibi, line, cop-out British informal get-out 1.2US A note written by a doctor or parent excusing a pupil from school. Example sentencesExamples A police spokesman said he was angry over being expelled from school after forging a doctor's note as an excuse to stay off school and play truant. And on my way over here, I swung by Kara and Zach's houses, and picked up excuse notes from their parents too. Smiling, he found the doctor had left an excuse note for him to take. A faint smell of shampoo is left in the wake and an excuse note flutters onto Mr. Ruther's desk. It was an excuse note for getting me out of my morning class… except without the blanks. Finally, his doc wrote him an excuse from P.E. and we didn't have the problem again. 2an excuse forinformal A poor or inadequate example of. that pathetic excuse for a man! Example sentencesExamples Not believing my first kiss had been with that pathetic excuse of a man, one that I didn't even know. This pathetic excuse of a party is an embarrassment to us all. I apologize for the poor excuse of an update today, but I'm tired. He felt betrayal, he felt used and most of all he felt stupid and embarrassed especially for buying such an expensive gift for this poor excuse of a woman. They're all bands that you've never heard of, you poor excuse of an indie music listener! Some sites have developed into good news portals which have adjusted to the way the web is moving, others are just a poor excuse of their printed version. She shuddered at the thought of marrying that poor excuse of a man. That good for nothing, poor excuse of a human being. Often not at home, either out with some rich associate or with some pathetic excuse of a girl. Aye, we're a poor, pathetic wee excuse for a nation right enough. Synonyms travesty of, apology for, poor specimen of, pitiful example of, mockery of pale shadow of, poor imitation of Phrases excuse me 1Used as a polite apology in various contexts, such as when attempting to get someone's attention, asking someone to move so that one may pass, or interrupting a speaker. Example sentencesExamples Now, excuse me for butting in like this, Germaine, but, putting this politely, albeit, bluntly: is this really true? They are all up in my personal space so I say excuse me and move away but they keep looking at me. When he finished eating, he stood up with a small polite excuse me and placed his dish in the sink, quickly heading up to Wes' room. Now in 99% of cases with the subway as packed as it was someone would enter, say excuse me and make her move her bag. The last hole looked out to a torture chamber - excuse me - an interrogation room. I was pulled passed bunches of people, yelling excuse me and avoiding swinging elbows. Excuse me for interrupting, Amy, this is Jack Cafferty. Excuse me, do you have this in a size nine and a half? 1.1North American Used to ask someone to repeat what they have just said. Synonyms what did you say, what, eh, i beg your pardon, beg pardon, sorry, excuse me, say again make one's excuses Say politely that one is leaving or cannot be present. Will made his excuses and retired to his room Example sentencesExamples Amanda in that moment made her excuses and politely left the room. I politely made my excuses as I headed off leaving the two gents of the night to their business. We made our excuses and left, leaving the presents behind to be opened another day, stringing out Christmas yet further. I will be making my excuses to parties this person throws from now on. The only difference is while I enjoy dancing, John makes his excuses whenever we mention teaching him the steps. I presumed you would politely make your excuses and leave, the moment my world became calm, normal, mundane. But before I could make my excuses and leave, they made their excuses and left. I try not to entertain the doubts; I leave them sitting in the corner, reading material out of reach, and hope they'll get bored and make their excuses. Some of us took the opportunity to make our excuses and hit for the nearest McDonald's (not too far away, of course). He let them into his home and was making them a drink while they searched the house before making their excuses and leaving. Derivatives excusatory adjective ɪkˈskjuːzətriɪkˈskjuzəˌtɔri Seeking to excuse or justify a fault or offence. excusatory comments Example sentencesExamples his excusatory version of events Only these creatures would apply an excusatory tone to the release of product shipment figures that show a significant increase in sales. It is one thing to leave the rules open-ended when persons are unlikely to rely on them (as with the excusatory defences discussed in Chapter 6), although even there the value of consistent judicial decisions should not be overlooked. He has started rationalizing and making excusatory comments for the Dems. Origin Middle English: from Old French escuser (verb), from Latin excusare 'to free from blame', from ex- 'out' + causa 'accusation, cause'. This comes via Old French from Latin excusare ‘to free from blame’, from ex- ‘out’ and causa ‘accusation, cause’. Rhymes abstruse, abuse, adduce, Ballets Russes, Belarus, Bruce, burnous, caboose, charlotte russe, conduce, deduce, deuce, diffuse, douce, educe, goose, induce, introduce, juice, Larousse, loose, luce, misuse, moose, mousse, noose, obtuse, Palouse, produce, profuse, puce, recluse, reduce, Rousse, seduce, sluice, Sousse, spruce, traduce, truce, use, vamoose, Zeus abuse, accuse, adieux, amuse, bemuse, billets-doux, blues, booze, bruise, choose, Clews, confuse, contuse, cruise, cruse, Cruz, diffuse, do's, Druze, effuse, enthuse, fuse (US fuze), Hughes, incuse, interfuse, lose, Mahfouz, mews, misuse, muse, news, ooze, Ouse, perfuse, peruse, rhythm-and-blues, ruse, schmooze, snooze, suffuse, Toulouse, transfuse, trews, use, Vaduz, Veracruz, who's, whose, youse verb.1 phr. Definition of excuse in US English: excuse verbɪkˈskjuzikˈskyo͞oz [with object] 1Attempt to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offense); seek to defend or justify. he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty Example sentencesExamples Now, I'm not for a minute going to excuse those crimes. That doesn't excuse his sin, it compounds it since he, of all people, should know better. Since men who've known the horror and stress of war would not excuse such crimes why are so many conservatives willing to do so? You did not excuse the wrongdoings of the executives involved in the recently uncovered corporate scandals. Apart from our penchant for ritual, in matters of corruption it is our fondness of explaining and excusing the crime that is most visible. There are prisoners from Louisiana excusing their crimes by blaming boredom. The prosecution suggested she had manufactured and exaggerated the abuse to excuse murder. From the time they were boys, others have fawned over them, winked at their flaws, excused their peccadilloes. I don't mean to excuse the crimes committed in the name of anticommunism. The media should refrain from reporting on events staged by politicians trying to excuse their own misconduct or making unfounded accusations. In my opinion, excusing complicit parties excuses rape itself. To excuse sin as sickness is a tempting way to avoid responsibility. If the violence weren't emphasized, the cops and courts would go on excusing the crime as an excess of boyishness provoked by flashy dress, raging hormones, dirty music, and too much junk food. It is a power in the Court to excuse breaches of trust. You can't excuse murder just because you want to sue the drug companies or the doctors on the back end. Without in any way excusing horrible atrocities against civilians, it is crucial to understand the use of violence, even terror, in terms that go beyond a single individual. Without the confession of faith we are bound to rationalize our actions, excuse our sins, and dodge the law's accusation. He does not make himself anonymous by excusing his errors and sins as functions of inauspicious circumstances or bad social influences. If I so glibly excused the murder of children, I wouldn't be able to stand my own reflection either. The following year, he told the conference: ‘No one but a fool would excuse crime on the basis of social conditions.’ Synonyms justify, defend, make excuses for, make a case for, explain, explain away, rationalize, condone, vindicate, warrant 1.1 Forgive (someone) for a fault or offense. you must excuse my sister he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time Example sentencesExamples Looking at the world today and comparing the respective positions of education and catastrophe, one could be excused for thinking that education was lagging far behind. Please excuse me for not telling you more than this. Shareholders could be excused for thinking the Three Stooges could do better, and maybe they could. Cricketers around the country know all about his prowess, although Ricky Ponting could be excused for having hardly heard of him. Next time your electricity or gas bill comes thumping through the door on to the mat, you could be excused for not being too sure you can trust it. These would be feats never previously achieved and one could be excused for thinking of them as over-ambitious. Our party doesn't defend the corrupt or excuse them. In the circumstances, Sutton could be excused for not cutting a dash. ‘You have to excuse my room mate, she is a little delusional it looks like,’ I heard Penelope plead. In these circumstances, perhaps Capriati could be excused for growing rattled and her temper exploded at 15-30 in the second game of the second set. Meanwhile, staff at the paper could be excused for wondering how their boss manages to edit the paper when he is so busy brushing up his broadcasting techniques. Frail elderly people could be excused for imagining that our society offers them little beyond goodwill, sympathy, and the hope that they will stay out of sight. ‘You must excuse my friend - she's a little hard of hearing,’ Nate put in quickly. One could be excused for thinking that the orchestration of realignment had become a target of the major parties as their relationship with the electorate weakened, and they looked to experts to advise them. Vogts, who these days could be excused for celebrating even a narrow defeat, found himself frustrated that he had been forced to settle for a draw. Indeed, so pronounced is the change that one could be excused for talking about the ‘corruption of Christmas’. This sort of thing seems surreal to Ranch, the Minor League Player of the Year, so you'll have to excuse him if he does not seem excited. Scoring was particularly good and some of the placed players could be excused for assuming that they might have had the winning score. After the horrors of the past year, Gardner could be excused for wanting a quieter life away from frontline journalism. By the start of Round 7, Leonard could be excused for wondering why he'd bothered to promote this particular fight. Synonyms forgive, pardon, absolve, exonerate, acquit 1.2 Overlook or forgive (a fault or offense) sit down—excuse the mess Example sentencesExamples I'm still fooling around with it, so please excuse the mess while we fix the place up. Missing an update is a small thing and readers will excuse the occasional lapse. Please excuse any typos or anything that doesn't make sense as my brain is not functioning well. Please excuse all typos and/or spelling errors, I try my best! I'm too tired to edit, so excuse any typos. This is truly off the top of my head at this moment and please excuse grammatical errors. Please excuse the typos and misspellings, I sometimes forget to spell-check when I'm outraged. But it is these days difficult to avoid the tangled mess of geopolitical analysis, so please excuse my taking liberties this week. Please excuse any misspellings or nonsensical happenings… I have my moments. The songs do seem awkward at times as the tight story-line doesn't allow any gaps, but even this can be excused as the songs are very good. She escorted the couple inside, told them to ‘please excuse the mess,’ and did the mini-tour. I won't get to post until after I do Sunrise so newbie readers, excuse the mess. Please excuse the current lack of more original postings on this blog. BTW, please excuse any spelling mistakes as this keyboard is slightly out of alignment, key size wise to mine, and I keep hitting the wrong keys. Excuse my ignorance but what is DMT? "Well, excuse my rudeness, but where's the money you owe me? Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors; I have no tolerance for software tools that make my life harder. I know it's not exactly a hot date (excuse the pun). Excuse my ignorance, can you please tell me who Mr Boas is? Finally, the most fruitful source of food (please excuse the pun) was from the economy. Synonyms deliberately ignore, not take into consideration, disregard, take no notice of, take no account of, make allowances for, let pass, turn a blind eye to, wink at, blink at, connive at, pardon, forgive, condone, let someone off with, let go, sink, bury, let bygones be bygones 1.3 (of a fact or circumstance) serve in mitigation of (a person or act) his ability excuses most of his faults Example sentencesExamples After the end of August the learning curve may have been continuing but I find that after that time there was no synergy of mutual fault which excuses any breach of the agreement by the company. Even though the outcome may be perfectly just, it does not in fact excuse the way in which he dealt with it. These groups are quick to point out that no one has yet been killed in one of their attacks, as if that fact somehow excuses their other criminal activity. But that does not excuse the fact that he pled guilty to harboring aliens. The difficulties encountered in investigations did not excuse wrongdoing on the part of gardaí, Mr McDowell said. Lester's negativity is presumably excused by the fact that when he did care about a band, he like really cared man. Whilst this revelation doesn't excuse the way Croydon is, it does help us understand why. His intentions were good, but does that really excuse the fact that he actively supported a junta responsible for ten thousand murders? Where the Crown can demonstrate that there was no prejudice to the accused flowing from a delay, then such proof may serve to excuse the delay. The first film's rather subdued acting could be excused by the fact that it had had to set the scene, give the background to the few people who'd never heard of the stories. Whatever he may or may not have said to his girlfriend in no way justifies or excuses his murder. Understanding another's pain and motives does not excuse the acts they choose to express themselves. That, in our submission, did nothing to excuse the delinquency of discovery. Their bond is strong, strong enough to excuse murder. But none of this excuses the fact that Hollywood's silence is deafening. 2Release (someone) from a duty or requirement. it will not be possible to excuse you from jury duty Example sentencesExamples Cole was not in the United squad for the Charity Shield game with Liverpool on Sunday because his wife broke a collarbone in a fall and he was excused duty. A magistrate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spared a prosecutor's vocal chords last week by excusing him from reading out a local drunk's previous convictions. I would like to request that Elizabeth be excused from her usual duties. Consequently, it becomes virtually impossible to convince men that a woman's gender won't excuse her from duty at some point. Mariah excused her for doorbell duty and we all lounged out on the floor and sofa. Since our turnaround will be quick, tell Lori that she is excused from cargo duty. Eventually, much to my surprise, once Siana was about 8 months pregnant, Mary excused her from her duties so she could rest. Tomorrow night, hinging on the field test, I may excuse you from the duties, but only if you pass. Her father happened to be an ardent Nazi, and when she begged him to excuse her from serving in the Hitler Youth, he staunchly refused her request. At present there is no legal or legislative precedence, as far as we know, that automatically excuses a Muslim from jury duty in all circumstances. There's only one exception and that's if you're touring, you're excused but otherwise you must be there. He would soon be writing to RAZ asking the referees' body to excuse him so he could concentrate on his mayoral duties. He figured that if he helped out early enough, they would excuse him out of clean-up duty afterwards. I am excused from heavy duty by the Surgeon for ten days on account of my feeble condition. Then he excused me from my duties for the rest of the day, and I began the long walk back to my room. Thankfully, I was excused from jury duty this time. Synonyms let off, release, relieve, exempt, spare, absolve, free, liberate 2.1 (used in polite formulas) allow (someone) to leave a room or gathering. now, if you'll excuse us, we have to be getting along Example sentencesExamples Alison without even asking to be excused quietly got up and left the room. Ryla politely asked to be excused and returned to her diligent watch over Moon. Twenty minutes later all tests had been handed in and Hector excused us from the room as the bell rang, announcing the start of a break between classes. Finally, after all the dishes and pots had been cleaned and put away Enela was excused to her room. After she was finished, I excused her from my room, and sat beside Asona. Without asking to be excused he stood up and left the room through the kitchen. But for now you will be excused from class and go straight to your room and sleep, is that clear? He stopped dead in his tracks and waited to be formerly excused from the room. The teacher excused him politely, and asked the class to return to their seats. We went on and on for another hour and once again, right on time, Nurse Patz entered the room to excuse my father and send Maggie in. She smiled and she politely excused them from the painful conversation. If they truly want a private conversation then they should be polite and ask to be excused. Dekker was excused from the room, and three members of the Haddon Heights church took the stand. Dinner was awkward, and Chris went upstairs to his own hotel room as soon as he could be excused. Zack was quiet, then at a good moment he intervened and politely excused us and took me on a quick tour of the house. Soon, Nathaniel excused her, and she quickly stalked from the room, storming up above to Silver Beard's cabin. I finished my eggs and without asking to be excused, I retreated to the comfort of my room. If every dish of the meal you've prepared is rejected, allow the child to be excused from the table until the next meal. Other wise all of the women and children present would have to either excuse themselves or sit there all day waiting for it to be done with. Lexi was glad beyond her own realization when her father stood and ushered his guests into a social room, excusing Alexis for the night. 2.2excuse oneself Say politely that one is leaving. Example sentencesExamples After finding the employee who called his name, he politely excused himself and disappeared. And we politely excused ourselves and scheduled another date for that shoot. The doctor nodded to both of them then excused himself from the room. Needless to say, I put on my best smile and shook each of their hands, answering their questions politely before excusing myself to my room. I politely excused myself, saying that it had actually been a nice time. I politely excuse myself and scurry out the door feeling like a guilty and confused child who's just walked in on something they don't quite understand and somehow feel bad about. Halfway through our interview, Vernon politely excuses himself to speak with one of his distributors who has stopped in with a delivery - he's also brought his wife who Vernon has never met. Fortunately, Scott had enough composure to be able to excuse himself politely. He politely excuses himself, explaining that he hasn't slept a wink in the past two days. Paulo politely excused himself noting the amount of work still left to do. 2.3be excused (used especially by school pupils) be allowed to leave the room, especially to go to the bathroom. please, can I be excused? Example sentencesExamples He asked to be excused from the class for a moment and exited the room. nounikˈskyo͞osɪkˈskjus 1A reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense. there can be no possible excuse for any further delay no one will have the excuse that they didn’t know Example sentencesExamples She told the court there had been a reasonable excuse for having them there. Outsiders, when brought before the court on charges of drunkenness, invariably pleaded to drinking too much of the local cider as the excuse for their offences. A cultural practice that is manifestly wrong on humanist grounds becomes the excuse for a colonizing mission whose tactics are in turn violent and unjust. This is not by way of an excuse for my subsequent behaviour, rather some explanation. So I just stood, open-mouthed, floundering, desperately trying to think up a reasonable excuse for not having shopped there recently. This is true, without any exception for the effects of climate, which some have set up as a kind of justification or excuse for the enforcement of compulsory labour. Let's hope that this does not become an excuse for formally launching operations prior to consensus building efforts. She glared at Sean with a look that conveyed that she didn't buy his excuse for a second. What was my excuse for being absent the last day? However, there's also a statutory defence for the defence to show that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to turn up. The newest excuse for sickness and probably the next bandwagon to jump on for a claim is sick building syndrome. Synonyms justification, defence, reason, explanation, mitigating circumstances, mitigation, extenuation, palliation, vindication 1.1 A reason put forward to conceal the real reason for an action; a pretext. when the rain started he used it as an excuse to leave early Example sentencesExamples The excuse usually put forward by former Communists for their support of the Great Terror in the 1930s is that they did not know what was really going on in the Soviet Union. Cynics advanced the view that the police attitude was merely an excuse and that the real reason was the fear that the hoped-for field would not materialise. The day most Americans looked forward to as either a great excuse to go traveling for no real reason or a few days off from work. Though most of the dialog gives the impression the film is interested in who the real killer is the murder plot line is really an excuse to throw attractive and dangerous men into Fanny's depressed life. Using the death of a friend as an excuse to write a strip about how many women he used and discarded in one year? The new law could be for child safety, but it could also be an easy excuse to write more tickets. The Patriot Act was put forward as an excuse and I was asked to reapply. In your cartoons, you make fun of people who use Internet activism as an excuse to avoid real activism. Kym kicked 2 goals and his team won the game but his real excuse to take the day off on Monday arrived at 3.30 that morning. Similarly, the ISC restated the familiar excuses put forward to explain away the critical failures: chiefly a shortage of cash from government. We find pretexts and excuses to nip through the main room to check on David, bringing him half an orange, a chunk of chocolate, so he knows we're still thinking of him. It can be said that Tuesday night is the one night when there is no real excuse to party. The usual excuse is put forward - it will provide more jobs. The research was interesting and seemingly never ending, and I realized at one point I was using research as an excuse to avoid writing. They may be accused of exaggerating their symptoms or just looking for an excuse to get out of working. Some movies these days just seem like veiled excuses for their real purpose: putting together a groovy sound-track. Were scheduling conflicts an excuse or a real factor in your relationship? She is using the thesis as an excuse to write up all of her unpublished data, but she has no experience with this. Students also believed their colleagues use age as an excuse to mask their real reasons for not returning to school, whatever those reasons might be. Synonyms pretext, ostensible reason, pretence, front, cover-up, fabrication, evasion 2an excuse forinformal A poor or inadequate example of. that pathetic excuse for a man! Example sentencesExamples Aye, we're a poor, pathetic wee excuse for a nation right enough. Not believing my first kiss had been with that pathetic excuse of a man, one that I didn't even know. They're all bands that you've never heard of, you poor excuse of an indie music listener! Some sites have developed into good news portals which have adjusted to the way the web is moving, others are just a poor excuse of their printed version. I apologize for the poor excuse of an update today, but I'm tired. This pathetic excuse of a party is an embarrassment to us all. Often not at home, either out with some rich associate or with some pathetic excuse of a girl. He felt betrayal, he felt used and most of all he felt stupid and embarrassed especially for buying such an expensive gift for this poor excuse of a woman. She shuddered at the thought of marrying that poor excuse of a man. That good for nothing, poor excuse of a human being. Synonyms travesty of, apology for, poor specimen of, pitiful example of, mockery of Phrases excuse me 1Said politely in various contexts, for example when attempting to get someone's attention, asking someone to move so that one may pass, or interrupting or disagreeing with a speaker. Example sentencesExamples Excuse me for interrupting, Amy, this is Jack Cafferty. Now, excuse me for butting in like this, Germaine, but, putting this politely, albeit, bluntly: is this really true? The last hole looked out to a torture chamber - excuse me - an interrogation room. Excuse me, do you have this in a size nine and a half? Now in 99% of cases with the subway as packed as it was someone would enter, say excuse me and make her move her bag. I was pulled passed bunches of people, yelling excuse me and avoiding swinging elbows. When he finished eating, he stood up with a small polite excuse me and placed his dish in the sink, quickly heading up to Wes' room. They are all up in my personal space so I say excuse me and move away but they keep looking at me. 1.1North American Said when asking someone to repeat what they have just said. Synonyms what did you say, what, eh, i beg your pardon, beg pardon, sorry, excuse me, say again make one's excuses Say politely that one is leaving or cannot be present. Example sentencesExamples I presumed you would politely make your excuses and leave, the moment my world became calm, normal, mundane. He let them into his home and was making them a drink while they searched the house before making their excuses and leaving. I will be making my excuses to parties this person throws from now on. I try not to entertain the doubts; I leave them sitting in the corner, reading material out of reach, and hope they'll get bored and make their excuses. But before I could make my excuses and leave, they made their excuses and left. Some of us took the opportunity to make our excuses and hit for the nearest McDonald's (not too far away, of course). I politely made my excuses as I headed off leaving the two gents of the night to their business. The only difference is while I enjoy dancing, John makes his excuses whenever we mention teaching him the steps. We made our excuses and left, leaving the presents behind to be opened another day, stringing out Christmas yet further. Amanda in that moment made her excuses and politely left the room. Origin Middle English: from Old French escuser (verb), from Latin excusare ‘to free from blame’, from ex- ‘out’ + causa ‘accusation, cause’. verb.1 phr.
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