Meaning of excuse in English

excuse

verb [ T ]

/ɪkˈskjuːz/ us

/ɪkˈskjuːz/

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to forgive someone or something:

excuse someone for something/doing something Please excuse me for arriving late - the bus was delayed.

Nothing can excuse that sort of behaviour.

No amount of financial recompense can excuse the way in which the company carried out its policy.

We cannot excuse him for these crimes.

to allow someone not to do or attend something when they normally would have to:

be excused from I asked the teacher if I could be excused from hockey practice as my knee still hurt.

excuse someone/yourself from something/doing something Please excuse me from the rest of the meeting - I've just received a phone call that requires my immediate attention.

You are excused—you may go.

excuse me

a polite way of attracting someone's attention, especially someone you do not know:

Excuse me, does this bus go to Oxford Street?

used to politely ask someone to move so that you can walk past them:

Excuse me, can I just get past?

used to tell someone politely that you are leaving:

Excuse me a moment, I'll be with you shortly.

used to say sorry for something you have done by accident:

Did I take your seat? Do excuse me.

said before disagreeing with someone:

Excuse me, but aren't you forgetting something?

(UK pardon?); (I beg your pardon?)

used to politely ask someone to repeat something they have said because you have not heard it:

Excuse me, I didn't quite hear what you said.

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Please excuse my stomach rumbling - I haven't eaten all day.
I know you are tired, but I really can't excuse you for being so rude and selfish about this.
She is almost too kind - always excusing their bad behaviour instead of dealing with it firmly.
Her boss cannot excuse even the smallest error, although he himself is far from perfect.
Will you excuse me? I've got to make a phone call.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making & accepting apologies

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Allowing and permitting

excuse

noun [ C ]

/ɪkˈskjuːs/ us

/ɪkˈskjuːs/

a reason that you give to explain why you did something wrong:

good excuse He'd better have a good excuse for being late.

excuse for They noted that she had a valid excuse for the administrative error.

have an excuse I've never known him to miss a meeting - I'm sure he'll have an excuse.

no excuse for There's no excuse for that sort of behaviour.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

the cause of something

reasonI frankly don’t understand the reason for the delay.
causeInvestigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
rootWe need to get to the root of her problems.
motiveThere seems to have been no motive for the murder.
ground(s)On what grounds was she dismissed?

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a false reason that you give to explain why you do something:

[ + to infinitive ] She was just looking for an excuse to call him.

excuse for Any excuse for a holiday!

make your excuses UK

to explain why you cannot be present somewhere:

Please make my excuses at the meeting on Friday.

make excuses

to give false reasons why you cannot do something:

make excuses for You're always making excuses for not helping me.

More examplesFewer examples

When I asked him why he was late, he gave me some excuse about having car trouble.
I made up an excuse about having to look after the kids.
I don't want to go tonight but I can't think up a good excuse.
Whenever I ask him why his essay's late, he just comes out with the same old excuses.
You're always making excuses for not helping me.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Reasons and explanations

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Idiom

a miserable, poor, etc. excuse for something

(Definition of excuse from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

excuse | American Dictionary

excuse

verb [ T ]

/ɪkˈskjuz/

excuse verb [T] (FORGIVE)

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to forgive someone:

Please excuse me for being so late – there was a lot of traffic.

It was hard to excuse him for treating me so badly.

excuse someone from

To excuse someone from an activity is to give that person permission to stop doing it or not do it:

I was excused from jury duty because I had to take care of my sick mother.

excusable

adjective us

/ɪkˈskju·zə·bəl/

Considering her difficult childhood, her behavior is excusable.

Idiom

excuse me

excuse

noun [ C ]

/ɪkˈskjus/

the explanation given for bad behavior, absence, etc.:

You’re always making excuses for not helping with the housework.

(Definition of excuse from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

excuse | Business English

excuse

noun [ C ]

HR US

/ɪkˈskjuːs/ us

( UK sick note)

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a letter from a doctor saying that someone is too ill to go to work

(Definition of excuse from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of excuse

excuse

None can be considered ' revisionist ' in elucidating an apologia for colonialism or in excusing sins of commission and omission for which the colonialists bore responsibility.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Because of this, worthy men are entangled in regulations, and degenerates only make excuses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

She covers him with cushions, and excuses herself, apparently to get undressed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He does not pay attention to the scientific background of each expedition, but this can be excused, as he is not a historian of science.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The 1639 charter excused clerks 'from all offices, unless they desire or yield themselves thereunto'; such offices would presumably have been both civic and parochial.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One of their excuses is that they have to control local pollution first.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They also know that those who call them untranslatable are excusing themselves from engaging in acts of interpretation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

If the wet-nurse was perceived as too poor, the fee was excused.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, excuses are an important component to a comprehensive understanding of the blame process.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The excuses, however, retain their character as individualized concessions of mercy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His rules of conduct are stripped, inter alia, of any reference to a mental element or aggravating features, as well as to the excuses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

By saying that he does not concern himself with feminism he excuses himself from having to acknowledge the power-effects of his own writing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Duress is (in some cases) an excusing condition.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Any one of these excuses, if true, should lead to an acquittal.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Let us call the defenses so grouped the broad excuses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.