to regard or judge with forgiveness or indulgence; pardon or forgive; overlook (a fault, error, etc.): Excuse his bad manners.
2.
to offer an apology for; seek to remove the blame of: He excused his absence by saying that he was ill.
3.
to serve as an apology or justification for; justify: Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
4.
to release from an obligation or duty: to be excused from jury duty.
5.
to seek or obtain exemption or release for (oneself): to excuse oneself from a meeting.
6.
to refrain from exacting; remit; dispense with: to excuse a debt.
7.
to allow (someone) to leave: If you'll excuse me, I have to make a telephone call.
–noun
8.
an explanation offered as a reason for being excused; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault or for release from an obligation, promise, etc.: His excuse for being late was unacceptable.
9.
a ground or reason for excusing or being excused: Ignorance is no excuse.
10.
the act of excusing someone or something.
11.
a pretext or subterfuge: He uses his poor health as an excuse for evading all responsibility.
12.
an inferior or inadequate specimen of something specified: That coward is barely an excuse for a man. Her latest effort is a poor excuse for a novel.
—Idiom
13.
Excuse me, (used as a polite expression, as when addressing a stranger, when interrupting or disagreeing with someone, or to request repetition of what has just been said.)
[Origin: 1175–1225; (v.) ME escusen < OF escuser < L excūsāre to put outside, exonerate, equiv. to ex-ex-1+ -cūsāre, deriv. of causacause; (n.) ME escuse < OF, deriv. of escuser; modern sp. with ex- on the model of ex-1]
—Related forms
ex·cus·a·ble, adjective
ex·cus·a·ble·ness, noun
ex·cus·a·bly, adverb
ex·cus·al, noun
ex·cuse·less, adjective
ex·cus·er, noun
ex·cus·ing·ly, adverb
ex·cus·ive, adjective
ex·cus·ive·ly, adverb
—Synonyms 1.Excuse,forgive,pardon imply being lenient or giving up the wish to punish. Excuse means to overlook some (usually) slight offense: to excuse bad manners. Forgive is applied to excusing more serious offenses: to forgive and forget. Pardon usually applies to a specific act of lenience or mercy by an official or superior: The governor was asked to pardon the condemned criminal. 3. extenuate, palliate. 4. free. 8. justification. Excuse,apology both imply an explanation of some failure or failing. Excuse implies a desire to avoid punishment or rebuke. Apology usually implies acknowledgment that one has been in the wrong. 11. pretense, evasion, makeshift.
Ex*cus"a*ble\a. [L. excusabilis: cf. F. excusable. See Excuse.] That may be excused, forgiven, justified, or acquitted of blame; pardonable; as, the man is excusable; an excusable action. -- Ex*cus"a*ble*ness, n. -- Ex*cus"a*bly, adv. The excusableness of my dissatisfaction. --Boyle.
![[P]](http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium_mh.gif){kind=small}
Audio Help [v. ik-skyooz; n. ik-skyoos] Pronunciation Key verb, -cused, -cus·ing, noun 
