excuse¹

B2 Topic:General Vocabulary

Also spelled excoose

US /ɪksˈkjus/ UK /ɪkˈskjuːs/ See IPA manual

noun

Audio for this pronunciation isn’t available yet.

Homographs: excuse² /ɪksˈkjuz/ — verb

Pronunciation and word origins: Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Freq #343

Meanings

1

noun
A reason you give to explain or defend a mistake or failure.

He gave a weak excuse for being late again.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a reason you give to... exculpation

Word family

Forms excusedexcusesexcusing

Appears in

Phrases (9)

See all

make an excuse
to give a reason, often weak or untrue, to explain one's behavior or avoid something

Verb + noun
poor excuse
a weak, unconvincing, or inadequate reason

Adjective + noun
valid excuse
a legitimate and acceptable reason for something

Adjective + noun
weak excuse
a reason that is unlikely to be believed because it lacks conviction

Adjective + noun
accept an excuse
to regard a given reason as valid and sufficient

Verb + noun
find an excuse
to come up with a reason to justify or avoid something

Verb + noun

Etymology

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

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