excuse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.
    exculpation; alibi; self-justification.
    • he kept finding excuses to stay
    • every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job
    • his transparent self-justification was unacceptable
  2. noun a note explaining an absence
    • he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him
  3. noun a poor example
    apology.
    • it was an apology for a meal
    • a poor excuse for an automobile
  4. verb accept an excuse for
    pardon.
    • Please excuse my dirty hands
  5. verb grant exemption or release to
    relieve; let off; exempt.
    • Please excuse me from this class
  6. verb serve as a reason or cause or justification of
    explain.
    • Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work
    • Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again
  7. verb defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
    rationalize; apologise; rationalise; apologize; justify.
    • rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior
    • he rationalized his lack of success
  8. verb ask for permission to be released from an engagement
    beg off.
  9. verb excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with
    condone.
    • excuse someone's behavior
    • She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities

WordNet

Ex*cuse" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. escusen, cusen, OF. escuser, excuser, F. excuser, fr. L. excusare; ex out + causa cause, causari to plead. See Cause.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Excused ; present participle & verbal noun Excusing
Definitions
  1. To free from accusation, or the imputation of fault or blame; to clear from guilt; to release from a charge; to justify by extenuating a fault; to exculpate; to absolve; to acquit.
    A man's persuasion that a thing is duty, will not excuse him from guilt in practicing it, if really and indeed it be against Gog's law. Abp. Sharp.
  2. To pardon, as a fault; to forgive entirely, or to admit to be little censurable, and to overlook; as, we excuse irregular conduct, when extraordinary circumstances appear to justify it.
    I must excuse what can not be amended. Shak.
  3. To regard with indulgence; to view leniently or to overlook; to pardon.
    And in our own (excuse some courtly stains.) No whiter page than Addison remains. Pope.
  4. To free from an impending obligation or duty; hence, to disengage; to dispense with; to release by favor; also, to remit by favor; not to exact; as, to excuse a forfeiture.
    I pray thee have me excused. xiv. 19.
  5. To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.
    Think ye that we excuse ourselves to you? 2 Cor. xii. 19.
    Syn. -- To vindicate; exculpate; absolve; acquit. - To Pardon, Excuse, Forgive. A superior pardons as an act of mercy or generosity; either a superior or an equal excuses. A crime, great fault, or a grave offence, as one against law or morals, may be pardoned; a small fault, such as a failure in social or conventional obligations, slight omissions or neglects may be excused. Forgive relates to offenses against one's self, and punishment foregone; as, to forgive injuries or one who has injured us; to pardon grave offenses, crimes, and criminals; to excuse an act of forgetfulness, an unintentional offense. Pardon is also a word of courtesy employed in the sense of excuse.
Ex*cuse" noun
Etymology
Cf. F. excuse. See Excuse, v. t.
Definitions
  1. The act of excusing, apologizing, exculpating, pardoning, releasing, and the like; acquittal; release; absolution; justification; extenuation.
    Pleading so wisely in excuse of it. Shak.
  2. That which is offered as a reason for being excused; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault or irregular deportment; apology; as, an excuse for neglect of duty; excuses for delay of payment.
    Hence with denial vain and coy excuse. Milton.
  3. That which excuses; that which extenuates or justifies a fault. "It hath the excuse of youth." Shak.
    If eyes were made for seeing. Then beauty is its own excuse for being. Emerson.
    Syn. -- See Apology.

Webster 1913