# excuse

/ɪkˈskjus/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/excuse
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. a reason or explanation

noun · CEFR A2

a reason you give to explain why you did something wrong or why you could not do something.

For teachers: an explanation offered to alleviate guilt, justify a fault, or explain a failure to perform a duty.

- He made up a clever excuse for why his homework was late.
- The employee provided a medical excuse for her week-long absence, though the manager remained skeptical of its authenticity.

### 2. legal defense

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a reason in law why someone should not be punished, even if they did the act.

For teachers: a legal defense where the defendant admits the actus reus but claims special circumstances negate their moral culpability.

- The lawyer argued that the defendant had a valid excuse because he was acting under pressure.
- In criminal law, an excuse differs from a justification in that the act is still considered wrong, but the actor is not held personally blameworthy.

### 3. poor example

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal

a very bad or poor example of something.

For teachers: an inferior or substandard example of a particular thing; often used with 'poor' or 'pathetic'.

- That old, rusty bike is a poor excuse for a vehicle.
- The critics dismissed the film as a pathetic excuse for a thriller, citing its predictable plot and wooden acting.

### 4. to forgive

verb · CEFR A2

to forgive someone for a small mistake or for being rude.

For teachers: to pardon or overlook a minor fault or social transgression.

- Please excuse my mess; I haven't had time to clean the kitchen today.
- The host was kind enough to excuse his guest's late arrival, given the unprecedented traffic delays in the city centre.

Usage: Often used in the imperative 'Excuse me' as a polite formula.

### 5. to allow to leave

verb · CEFR B1 · Formal

to give someone permission to leave a room or a duty.

For teachers: to grant someone permission to depart or to release them from a specific obligation.

- The teacher excused the student from class to go to the nurse.
- The judge excused the juror from the trial after learning of a potential conflict of interest with the defendant.

## Examples

- He made an excuse for being late to the meeting.
- The student offered a weak excuse about a broken printer when she failed to hand in her essay on time.
- While the legal team attempted to frame the oversight as a technical error, the judge dismissed it as a poor excuse for failing to comply with the discovery request.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.