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.
c.1225, "to clear (someone) from blame," from O.Fr. escuser, from L. excusare "release from a charge," from ex- "out, away" + causa "accusation, legal action" (see cause). Meaning "to obtain exemption or release" is from 1340; that of "to accept another's plea of excuse" is from c.1325. The noun sense of "that which is offered as a reason for being excused" is recorded from c.1500. Excuse me as a mild apology or statement of polite disagreement is from 1606.
a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
2.
a note explaining an absence; "he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him"
3.
a poor example; "it was an apology for a meal"; "a poor excuse for an automobile" [syn: apology]
verb
1.
accept an excuse for; "Please excuse my dirty hands"
2.
grant exemption or release to; "Please excuse me from this class"
3.
serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again"
4.
defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success" [syn: apologize]
5.
ask for permission to be released from an engagement
6.
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with; "excuse someone's behavior"; "She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities"
Main Entry: ex·cuse Pronunciation: ik-'skyüs Function: noun 1:EXCUSAL 2 a: a circumstance that allows for release under the law from an obligation, duty, or contractual liability —compare ACT OF GOD, FORCE MAJEURE, FORTUITOUS EVENT, IMPOSSIBILITY OF
PERFORMANCEb: a circumstance (as a physical threat) that grants immunity for otherwise tortious or criminal conduct —compare JUSTIFICATION, PRIVILEGE
Main Entry: ex·cuse Pronunciation: ik-'skyüz Function: verb Inflected Forms: ex·cused; ex·cus·ing transitive verb
1: to grant exemption or release to <excused the prospective juror> <excused the witness after an hour of testimony> 2:JUSTIFY intransitive verb : to serve as an excuse or justification <exigent circumstances may excuse —J. J.
White and Railroad S. Summers>
A*pol"o*gy\, n.; pl. Apologies. [L. apologia, Gr. ?; ? from + ?: cf. F. apologie. See Apologetic.]1. Something said or written in defense or justification of what appears to others wrong, or of what may be liable to disapprobation; justification; as, Tertullian's Apology for Christianity. It is not my intention to make an apology for my poem; some will think it needs no excuse, and others will receive none. --Dryden. 2. An acknowledgment intended as an atonement for some improper or injurious remark or act; an admission to another of a wrong or discourtesy done him, accompanied by an expression of regret. 3. Anything provided as a substitute; a makeshift. He goes to work devising apologies for window curtains. --Dickens. Syn: Excuse. Usage: An apology, in the original sense of the word, was a pleading off from some charge or imputation, by explaining and defending one's principles or conduct. It therefore amounted to a vindication. One who offers an apology, admits himself to have been, at least apparently, in the wrong, but brings forward some palliating circumstance, or tenders a frank acknowledgment, by way of reparation. We make an apology for some breach of propriety or decorum (like rude expressions, unbecoming conduct, etc.), or some deficiency in what might be reasonably expected. We offer an excuse when we have been guilty of some breach or neglect of duty; and we do it by way of extenuating our fault, and with a view to be forgiven. When an excuse has been accepted, an apology may still, in some cases, be necessary or appropriate. "An excuse is not grounded on the claim of innocence, but is rather an appeal for favor resting on some collateral circumstance. An apology mostly respects the conduct of individuals toward each other as equals; it is a voluntary act produced by feelings of decorum, or a desire for the good opinion of others." --Crabb.
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.
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Audio Help [v. ik-skyooz; n. ik-skyoos] Pronunciation Key verb, -cused, -cus·ing, noun 
