I. ex ‧ cuse 1 S1 /ɪkˈskjuːz/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ excuse ; noun : ↑ excuse ; adverb : ↑ inexcusably ; adjective : ↑ excusable ≠ ↑ inexcusable ]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: excuser , from Latin excusare , from causa 'cause, explanation' ]
1 . excuse me spoken
a) used when you want to get someone’s attention politely, especially when you want to ask a question:
Excuse me, can you tell me the way to the museum please?
b) used to say that you are sorry for doing something rude or embarrassing:
Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know anyone was here.
c) used to ask someone politely to move so that you can walk past:
Excuse me, could I just squeeze past?
d) used to politely tell someone that you are leaving a place:
Excuse me a moment. I’ll be right back.
e) used when you disagree with someone but want to be polite about it SYN I’m sorry :
Excuse me, but I don’t think that’s what he meant at all.
f) American English used to show that you disagree with someone or are very surprised or upset by what they have just said:
‘You’re going to pay, right?’ ‘Excuse me?’
g) especially American English used to ask someone to repeat something that they have just said SYN pardon me :
‘What time is it?’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘I asked you what time it is.’
2 . FORGIVE to forgive someone for doing something that is not seriously wrong, such as being rude or careless:
I’ll excuse you this time, but don’t be late again.
Please excuse my bad handwriting.
excuse somebody for (doing) something
Please excuse me for being so late today.
Smith can be excused for his lack of interest in the course (=his lack of interest is reasonable) .
REGISTER
In informal situations, people often say sorry about …, sorry for doing ... or sorry I … rather than asking someone to excuse something:
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Sorry about my handwriting.
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Sorry for being so late. OR Sorry I’m so late.
3 . FROM A DUTY [usually passive] to allow someone not to do something that they are supposed to do
excuse somebody from (doing) something
Can I be excused from swimming today? I have a cold.
4 . EXPLAIN to be or give a good reason for someone’s careless or offensive behaviour:
Nothing can excuse that kind of rudeness.
5 . FROM A PLACE to give someone permission to leave a place:
May I please be excused from the table?
6 . excuse yourself to say politely that you need to leave a place:
Richard excused himself and went to his room.
7 . excuse me (for living)! spoken used when someone has offended you or told you that you have done something wrong
II. ex ‧ cuse 2 S3 /ɪkˈskjuːs/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ excuse ; noun : ↑ excuse ; adverb : ↑ inexcusably ; adjective : ↑ excusable ≠ ↑ inexcusable ]
1 . a reason that you give to explain careless or offensive behaviour
excuse for (doing) something
What’s your excuse for being late this time?
I’m tired of listening to his excuses.
2 . a reason that you invent to explain an action and to hide your real intentions
excuse to do something
I need an excuse to call her.
excuse for
The conference is just an excuse for a holiday in New York.
3 . there is no excuse for something used to say that someone’s behaviour is too bad to be explained or accepted:
There is no excuse for such rudeness.
4 . make your excuses to explain why you are not able to do something:
Please make my excuses at the meeting tomorrow.
5 . a poor/rotten etc excuse for something used when you think someone or something is very bad:
He’s a rotten excuse for a lawyer. Why on earth did you hire him?
6 . American English a note written by your doctor or one of your parents saying that you were ill on a particular day SYN sick note British English
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meanings 1 & 2)
■ verbs
▪ make up/think up/invent an excuse
I made up some excuse about my car breaking down.
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We’d better think up an excuse, fast.
▪ make excuses for somebody/something (=give reasons which try to explain why someone has made a mistake or behaved badly)
His mother was always making excuses for her son's behaviour.
▪ use something as an excuse
She never complained or used her illness as an excuse.
▪ look for an excuse
I began to look for excuses to avoid seeing him.
▪ give an excuse
I'll have to give my boss some kind of excuse.
▪ believe/accept an excuse
She didn’t believe his excuse for one minute.
▪ have an excuse
Companies have no excuse for breaking the law.
■ adjectives
▪ a good excuse
A sunny day is a good excuse to go to the beach.
▪ a wonderful excuse (=a very good excuse)
A wedding is a wonderful excuse to buy a new outfit.
▪ a reasonable/plausible excuse (=one that other people will believe)
If your train was cancelled, that is a perfectly reasonable excuse.
▪ a legitimate/valid excuse (=one that is true and that other people cannot criticize)
He didn’t have a legitimate excuse for being late.
▪ the perfect excuse
The phone call gave me the perfect excuse to leave.
▪ a feeble/flimsy/weak excuse (=one that is difficult to believe)
Joe muttered some feeble excuse about having a headache.
▪ a pathetic/lame excuse (=very weak)
That’s the most pathetic excuse I’ve ever heard.
▪ the usual excuse/the same old excuse
He made the usual excuses for not coming.
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Whenever the trains are late, it's always the same old excuse.
▪ a convenient excuse
The rioting provided the government with a convenient excuse not to hold an election.
■ phrases
▪ use every excuse in the book (=use every possible excuse)
He used every excuse in the book to avoid seeing the doctor.
▪ at the slightest excuse (=for any reason, however unimportant)
She comes to our house at the slightest excuse.
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THESAURUS
■ a reason that does not seem believable
▪ excuse a reason that you give to explain why you have done something bad, or not done something that you should have done – especially one that is not completely true:
She said she couldn’t come because she had to work late, but it was just an excuse.
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a feeble excuse (=one that is hard to believe)
▪ pretext especially written an untrue reason that you give for doing or not doing something, in order to hide the real reason:
He would often find some pretext to go out in the evening alone.
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They used this as a pretext for taking military action.