excuse

v

1. forgive, absolve, shrive, remit; forbear, spare, judge with leniency; pardon, amnesty, reprieve, exculpate, exonerate, vindicate; acquit, clear, prove innocent, uphold innocence, remove guilt; condone, make allowances for, overlook, pass over, wink at, disregard, forget, ignore, look the other way, pay no attention to.

2. apologize, repent, explain, extenuate, palliate, make excuses; defend oneself, rationalize, tell one's story, Inf. alibi, Inf. do a song and dance; justify, warrant, sanction, approve, allow, permit.

3. release, relieve, dismiss, discharge, free, liberate, let off, Inf. let off the hook; exempt, dispense with, except, exclude, leave [s.o.] out, keep [s.o.] out, Rom. Cath. Ch. dispense.

4. remit, waive, release from, let out of, Commerce. indulge, clear the books, wipe the slate clean.

n

5. explanation, story, apology, apologia, rationalization, argument, allegation, claim, assertion, Law. rejoinder, Law. deraignment, Inf. song and dance, Inf. alibi; reason, basis, grounds, support, justification, plea; extenuation, palliation, Law. demurrer, Law. rebutter, Law. essoin.

6. forgiveness, forgiving, absolution, absolving, shriving, remission, remitting; pardoning, reprieve, reprieving, respite, exculpation, exculpating, exoneration, exonerating, vindication, vindicating, acquittal, acquittance, acquitting, clearance, clearing; forbearance, sparing, judging with leniency, Both Rom. Cath. Ch. indulgence, indulgency; condonation, condoning, ex-cusal, overlooking, disregarding, ignoring.

7. pretext, ostensible reason, pretense, feint; subterfuge, escape, way out, out, loophole; evasion, elusion, means of avoiding, Inf. cop-out, Inf. stall.

8. makeshift, poor specimen, pitiful example, substitute.