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View synonyms for alibi

alibi

[ al-uh-bahy ]

noun

, plural al·i·bis.
  1. Law. the defense by an accused person of having been elsewhere at the time an alleged offense was committed.
  2. an excuse, especially to avoid blame.

    Synonyms: justification, reason, explanation

  3. a person used as one's excuse:

    My sick grandmother was my alibi for missing school.



verb (used without object)

  1. Informal. to give an excuse; offer a defense:

    to alibi for being late.

verb (used with object)

  1. Informal.
    1. to provide an alibi for (someone):

      He alibied his friend out of a fix.

    2. to make or find (one's way) by using alibis:

      to alibi one's way out of work.

alibi

/ ˈælɪˌbaɪ /

noun

  1. law
    1. a defence by an accused person that he was elsewhere at the time the crime in question was committed
    2. the evidence given to prove this
  2. informal.
    an excuse


verb

  1. tr to provide with an alibi

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Word History and Origins

Origin of alibi1

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin alibī (adverb): “in another place, elsewhere”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of alibi1

C18: from Latin alibī elsewhere, from alius other + -bī as in ubī where

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Example Sentences

That alibi wasn’t presented in court by his defense, which the family claims was incompetent.

From Vox

None of the six were ever arrested, and most of the evidence—including a bloodied sheet and two witness statements that supposedly corroborated alibis of the priests—were destroyed in the 1980s.

Any courtroom prosecutor would recognize these points as a circumstantial case for “consciousness of guilt,” the legal concept that covers actions like faking an alibi, destroying evidence, or threatening a witness.

Since 2008, companies like No Lie MRI and Cephos have raced to develop adequate research to use fMRI in lie detection, offering their services to legal defendants looking to validate their alibis.

Cruz and his lawyers later presented alibi witnesses and offered evidence that Cruz’s case had been tainted by the work of unscrupulous detectives.

I was also the front for a juvenile delinquent roaming the streets of New York City and using me as a parental alibi.

"Roommate" is the obvious alibi, but that introduces surprisingly-complex new lies.

“Tex-Mex for decades was ascendant,” Arellano told the The Weekly Alibi in 2012.

After seeing injuries to infant girl, suspects devise alibi.

Fortunately for him, his arrest gives him the perfect alibi.

In 1824, then a judge at Alencon, he helped render an alibi decision in favor of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, who really was guilty.

That profound thinker, Mr Tony Weller, was never so correct as in his views respecting the value of an alibi.

“Of course you know Cap swore an alibi for you against that suspicion Conrad tried to head your way,” she stated a bit anxiously.

But, unhappily, each alibi would have been almost equally compromising.

Later the doctor was able to prove an alibi which cannot be shaken.

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