excuse
accept an excuse for
How often you will meet it
Rank 1,286 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 14,327 times across 173,643 chapters — 0.007% of every word in the library.
What it means
verb
- accept an excuse for also: pardon Please excuse my dirty hands
- grant exemption or release to also: relieve, let off, exempt Please excuse me from this class
- serve as a reason or cause or justification of also: explain Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at workHer recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again
- defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning also: apologize, apologise, rationalize, rationalise rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behaviorhe rationalized his lack of success
- ask for permission to be released from an engagement also: beg off
- excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with also: condone excuse someone's behaviorShe condoned her husband's occasional infidelities
noun
- a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc. also: alibi, exculpation, self-justification he kept finding excuses to stayevery day he had a new alibi for not getting a job
- a note explaining an absence he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him
excuse in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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Then came the second excuse, which had its birth during the turbulent times of reconstruction.
The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1
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His hand was steady, but the attitude was an excuse for not making an immediate reply.
Ethan Frome · Edith Wharton · Chapter 1
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Suddenly: “But you must excuse me,” he said, rushing towards the other end of the parlor.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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There was some excuse for the error of critics who asked for a Homer in ballad rhyme.
The Odyssey of Homer · 751? BCE-651? BCE Homer · Chapter 1