EXCUSES Synonyms: 79 Similar and Opposite Words

excuses 1 of 2

noun

plural of excuse

as in justifications

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

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excuses

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of excuse

as in ignores

to dismiss as of little importance more often than not, voters are willing to excuse a candidate's youthful indiscretion

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in justifies

to be an acceptable reason for having a female passenger in labor will generally excuse a little disregard for the speed limit

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as in explains

to make (something) seem less bad by offering excuses he's always excusing his chronic lying by claiming that everybody lies

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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 excuses

Noun

The software company PDFFly surveyed 2000 managers and senior managers and found that while 85% of managers suspect their employees are making fake excuses to grab extra time off in the summer, half of management are doing exactly that themselves. — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026 Save as a collection on MyRecipes Fall brings football tailgates, family dinners, and dozens more excuses to gather. — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Aug. 2026 Their excuses for the past two years have been the same thing. — Reginald David, Hartford Courant, 19 Aug. 2026 That is more true inside a company than at national scale, because a company has fewer excuses. — Vibhas Ratanjee, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Kiffin understands that excuses aren’t going to fly, even if some are valid about recruiting during a time when coaches were traveling back and forth from Oxford to Baton Rouge. — Trey Wallace Outkick, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2026 The Galliano incident had nothing to do with Israel or the kinds of excuses some people are using today for antisemitism. — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 4 Aug. 2026 But none of those goals excuses adopting a budget that rests on money that does not exist today. — Angel Gutierrez, Chicago Tribune, 3 Aug. 2026 None of the money was ever returned to the customers, and Engle provided them with false excuses as to why the loans hadn’t been funded, federal attorneys said. — Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1 Aug. 2026

Verb

Any person who celebrates, encourages, or excuses actions like these is fundamentally wrong. — Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2026 For me, the larger question is not whether artistic behavior excuses transgression, but how to hold artistic achievement and ethical accountability together without allowing one to erase the other. — Andy Battaglia, ARTnews.com, 3 Aug. 2026 Instead, some attack our business's fees, as though changing the subject somehow excuses copying another company's intellectual property. — Brian Taylor, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 With no more patients in the waiting room, Dua excuses herself to see Haynes in the OR, where medical resident Lee has begun the procedure. — Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 8 June 2026 Because her beauty excuses all. — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 1 June 2026 The Justice Department says Bondi’s ouster excuses her from having to appear. — NBC news, 12 Apr. 2026 Continue reading … MEDIA HALL PASS — Nashville public school excuses Muslim students for daily prayer time during Ramadan. — FOXNews.com, 9 Apr. 2026 And while absolutely none of that excuses my actions, that's what happened. — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 3 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for excuses

Noun

Idaho allows exemptions for medical, religious or other reasons, and medical justifications account for very few of those exemptions, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

— Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 21 Aug. 2026
At the center lies carceral safety politics—logics that turn fears of violence into justifications for punitive responses.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of justifications

Verb

If a cyclist ignores a moving violation summons and gets stopped again while cycling, there’s nothing the NYPD can do other than issue more moving violation summonses that will be ignored and go unpaid.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 24 Aug. 2026
But that’s a much smaller part of the story than the argument suggests, and ignores that the majority of the competitive stakes in major European divisions are driven by the quest for continental competition.

— Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of ignores

Noun

This increase happens for two reasons — both tied to the fact that El Niño is characterized by warmer than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial tropical Pacific Ocean.

— Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
Less than a week after our Zoom conversation with Knapp, an unrelated Good Good collab went viral for all of the wrong reasons.

— Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of reasons

Verb

After losing his reelection bid to Bill Clinton in 1992, Bush issued Christmas Eve pardons to six Reagan administration officials convicted of or facing trials for crimes related to Iran-Contra.

— Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Aug. 2026
Trump pardons ex-Republican congressman.

— Jay Stahl, USA Today, 7 June 2026

Definition of pardons

Verb

Jaida Hargrove's grandfather, Rick Arrate, lived alone on Peavine Mountain, which overlooks Reno and Sparks.

— CBS News, CBS News, 24 Aug. 2026
Located in the heart of it all, the home’s terrace overlooks the medina rooftops, Koutobia Mosque and the Atlas Mountains, but still feels a world away from the city’s bustle.

— Katie Silcox, Vogue, 23 Aug. 2026

Definition of overlooks

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excused

excuses

excusing

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Style

“Excuses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excuses. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of excuses

noun

verb

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