as in justification
an explanation that frees one from fault or blame
"a really important business call" is no excuse for not paying proper attention to one's driving
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in to ignore
to dismiss as of little importance
more often than not, voters are willing to excuse a candidate's youthful indiscretion
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to justify
to be an acceptable reason for
having a female passenger in labor will generally excuse a little disregard for the speed limit
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in to explain
to make (something) seem less bad by offering excuses
he's always excusing his chronic lying by claiming that everybody lies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of excuse
Ben Church, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
Hawkins, who is running to become state insurance secretary, has said there is no excuse defying the demand.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 17 Sep. 2025
Matt Germer, Oc Register, 7 Sep. 2025
Listening to these women fawn all over Julia for carrying the laird’s child, for carrying a future king, listening to them excuse away Julia being unmarried, all of it makes Davina blow a fuse.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excuse
Noun
There is no excuse, there is no words.
—Ben Church, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
Hawkins, who is running to become state insurance secretary, has said there is no excuse defying the demand.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
But that legal reality shouldn’t excuse the behavior.
—Matt Germer, Oc Register, 7 Sep. 2025
Listening to these women fawn all over Julia for carrying the laird’s child, for carrying a future king, listening to them excuse away Julia being unmarried, all of it makes Davina blow a fuse.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excuse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for excuse
Noun
-
Their justification for taking action on Wednesday evening closely mirrored Carr’s own comments earlier in the day.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
19 Sep. 2025
-
In one email reviewed by USA TODAY, a CDC employee was informed that their reasonable telework accommodation request had been withdrawn with no further explanation or justification in the middle of the night, giving them fewer than eight hours of notice before the next workday began.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
What wasn’t said is hard to ignore.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
-
Congress and state legislatures should investigate and hold the FDA accountable for ignoring overwhelming evidence of harm.—
Lila Rose,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
In a bipartisan vote, 49 Republicans joined Democrats to repeal the authorizations, which members say have been abused to justify later military actions.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
17 Sep. 2025
-
Judge Carreño-Coll further ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that all the ten named defendants, along with various unnamed companies and individuals even had sufficient connections to Puerto Rico to justify the filing of the lawsuit to begin with.—
David Blackmon,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
On Saturday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to explain which visa holders the fee applies to and when.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
21 Sep. 2025
-
John explains the rules to the first-timers, and the bracket begins — four matches at once.—
Matt Negrin,
Rolling Stone,
20 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Republicans argued this, and not pressure from Carr, was the reason behind ABC’s decision to bench Kimmel.—
Ramsey Touchberry,
The Washington Examiner,
19 Sep. 2025
-
However, GPUs will remain one of the best solutions for both AI training and AI inference processing for two key reasons, which Nvidia is building upon with the Rubin CPX announcement.—
Jim McGregor,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
If a Manchester United fan missed this game (good call, by the way) and just looked at the post-match stats, they could be forgiven for thinking their boys put up a decent display.—
Matt Slater,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Both characters struggle to forgive themselves for past mistakes and are reluctant to dive back into relationships.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
High-end Japanese restaurant chain ROKA opened a branch at the Mandarin Oriental Bodrum this summer, where guests can enjoy ROKA’s signature dishes, and some bespoke new creations, at an outdoor restaurant overlooking Paradise Bay.—
Maureen O'Hare,
CNN Money,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Room Essentials Satin Quilt Don’t overlook Target’s exclusive brand, Room Essentials, when shopping for bedding.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Polish state media also reported that Polish nationals have been pardoned.—
Darya Tarasova,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
-
In the end, Frizer was found to have acted in self-defense and officially pardoned by the Queen.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Excuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excuse. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share