EXCUSE

Excuse

In jurisprudence, an excuse or justification is a defense to criminal charges that is distinct from an exculpation. Exculpation is related concept which reduces or extinguishes a person's culpability and therefore a person's liability to pay compensation to the victim of a tort in the civil law.

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excuse

Noun

  1. An explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment.
    Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses!
  2. 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. An example.
    That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?
    He's a sorry excuse of a doctor.

Verb

  1. To forgive; to pardon.
    I excused him his transgressions.
  2. To allow to leave.
    May I be excused from the table?
    I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.
  3. To provide an excuse for; to explain, with the aim of alleviating guilt or negative judgement.
    You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!
  4. To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: excuse
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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