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excuse

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noun [countable] American English pronunciation: excuse /ɪkˈskjus/ 
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singularexcuse
pluralexcuses
  1. 1
    a reason that you give to explain why you have done something bad, or why you have not done something that you should have done

    a reasonable/valid/legitimate excuse

    excuse for:

    What excuse did they give for the delay?

    have an excuse:

    Joe was late, but as always he had an excuse.

    make/give an excuse:

    He made some excuse about having a lot of work to do.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  excuseThesaurus entry for this meaning of excuse
  2. 2
    a reason for doing something that you want to do
    excuse for:

    Birthdays are always a good excuse for a party.

    an excuse to do something:

    Emily was glad to have an excuse to change the subject.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  excuseThesaurus entry for this meaning of excuse

phrases

This is the American English definition of excuse. View British English definition of excuse.

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