excuse

Etymology

From Middle English excusen (verb) and excuse (noun), borrowed from Old French escuser (verb) and excuse (noun), from Latin excūsō, excūsāre (“to excuse, allege in excuse, literally, free from a charge”), from ex (“out”) + causa (“a charge”); see cause, accuse and recuse. Displaced native Old English lād (“an excuse”) and lādian (“to excuse”).

verb

1. (transitive) To forgive; to pardon.
   I excused him his transgressions.
   If they say that he did sin in doing this, then they must at the same time acknowledge that a man's persuasion that a thing is a duty will not excuse him from guilt in practising it c. 1685, John Sharp, A Discourse of Conscience
2. (transitive) To allow to leave, or release from any obligation.
   May I be excused from the table?
   I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.
3. (transitive) To provide an excuse for; to explain, with the aim of alleviating guilt or negative judgement.
   You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!
4. To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.
   It were more meet that thou didst accuse thy self, and excusedst thy Brother. 1705, Thomas à Kempis (unknown translator), The Christian’s Pattern: or, A Treatise of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, London: T. C. Hansard,[…], published 1831, page 54

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault.
   Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses!
   I had to make an excuse for being late to the meeting.
2. (law) A defense to a criminal or civil charge wherein the accused party admits to doing acts for which legal consequences would normally be appropriate, but asserts that special circumstances relieve that party of culpability for having done those acts.
3. (often with preceding negative adjective, especially sorry, poor, or lame) An example of something that is substandard or of inferior quality.
   That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?
   He's a sorry excuse for a doctor.
   What a fucking lame excuse for a man. 2008, Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, London: Atlantic Books, page 131
   Seydlitz correctly identifies the larger shell splashes as coming from the two "large light cruisers" at the rear, and takes aim. Moments later, Courageous sheers out of line, smoke and steam venting through a massive hole in her side, the shells having blasted right through whatever excuse for armor was present and detonated amidst the boiler rooms. She is doomed. 17 October 2018, Drachinifel, 15:10 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04