a note explaining an absence; "he had to get his mother to write an excuse for him"
a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with; "excuse someone's behavior"; "She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities"
serve as a reason or cause or justification of; "Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work"; "Her recent divorce may explain her reluctance to date again"
grant exemption or release to; "Please excuse me from this class"
ask for permission to be released from an engagement
accept an excuse for; "Please excuse my dirty hands"
totally and definitely; without question; "we are absolutely opposed to the idea"; "he forced himself to lie absolutely still"; "iron is absolutely necessary"
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers; "an absolutely magnificent painting"; "a perfectly idiotic idea"; "you're perfectly right"; "utterly miserable"; "you can be dead sure of my innocence"; "was dead tired"; "dead right"
in some unspecified way or manner; or by some unspecified means; "they managed somehow"; "he expected somehow to discover a woman who would love him"; "he tried to make is someway acceptable"
for some unspecified reason; "It doesn't seem fair somehow"; "he had me dead to rights but somehow I got away with it"; "for some reason they didn't seem to match"
(law) a formal notice filed with a court or officer to suspend a proceeding until filer is given a hearing; "a caveat filed against the probate of a will"
a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it"
in no way; to no degree; "he looks nothing like his father"