excuse

verb

1. (transitive)To forgive; to pardon; to overlook.

   “I excused him his transgressions.”

   “Yet his Nature / In that’s no Changeling, and I muſt excuſe / What cannot be amended.”

   “If they say that he did sin in doing this, then they must at the same time acknowledge that a man's persuasion that a thing is a duty will not excuse him from guilt in practising it”

2. (transitive)To allow to leave, or release from any obligation.

   “May I be excused from the table?”

   “I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.”

3. (transitive)To provide an excuse for; to justify.

   “You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!”

   “They cannot be excusyd By reason nor by law; […]”

4. To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.

   “Agayne / thynke ye that we excuſe oure ſelves? we ſpeake in Chriſt in the ſight of God. But we do all thyngꝭ dearly beloved for youre edifyinge.”

   “It were more meet that thou didst accuse thy self, and excusedst thy Brother.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault.

   “Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses!”

   “I had to make an excuse for being late to the meeting.”

   “a feeble excuse”

   “a tired excuse”

   “a valid excuse”

2. (countable, uncountable)A defense to a criminal or civil charge wherein the accused party admits to doing acts for which legal consequences would normally be appropriate, but asserts that special circumstances relieve that party of culpability for having done those acts.
3. (countable, often, uncountable)An example of something that is substandard or of inferior quality.

   “That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?”

   “He's a sorry excuse for a doctor.”

   “What a fucking lame excuse for a man.”

   “Seydlitz correctly identifies the larger shell splashes as coming from the two "large light cruisers" at the rear, and takes aim. Moments later, Courageous sheers out of line, smoke and steam venting through a massive hole in her side, the shells having blasted right through whatever excuse for armor was present and detonated amidst the boiler rooms. She is doomed.”