explain sth away
— phrasal verb with explain uk/ɪkˈspleɪn/us/ɪkˈspleɪn/verb [ I or T ]
to avoid blame for something that has happened by making it seem not important or not your fault:
I don't know how you're going to explain away that dent you made in Dad's car.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Defining & explaining
- (do you) see what I mean? idiom
- account (to sb) for sth
- accountable
- cast
- clarify
- convey
- descriptive
- every picture tells a story idiom
- evocative
- evoke
- explicable
- explicate
- expound
- fill
- get sth across
- justify
- mean
- scene
- schematic
- that is to say ... idiom
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