"explain away" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "explains away",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explaining away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explained away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explained away",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "explain away (third-person singular simple present explains away, present participle explaining away, simple past and past participle explained away)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (away)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He couldn't just explain away all of his problems."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 44",
          "text": "I have heard it all. And how you will explain away any part of your guilt in that dreadful business, I confess is beyond my comprehension.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 18, Murtada Elfadl, “Killers Of The Flower Moon review: Martin Scorsese's uniquely American tragedy”, in AV Club",
          "text": "De Niro veers dangerously close to caricature—making chirpy noises, always tilting his head, adding dashes of comedy—yet he ends up personifying evil while never sanding off the edges of this horrible man or trying to explain away his misdeeds with a humanist approach.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dismiss or minimize (a problem, etc.) by explanation."
      ],
      "id": "en-explain_away-en-verb-o18rMxxn",
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "minimize",
          "minimize"
        ],
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "explanation",
          "explanation"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "explain"
        },
        {
          "word": "explanation"
        },
        {
          "word": "explanatory"
        },
        {
          "word": "nothing-buttery"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otdelyvatʹsja",
          "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
          "word": "отделываться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "opravdyvatʹsja",
          "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
          "word": "оправдываться"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
          "word": "bortförklara"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "explain away"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "explains away",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explaining away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explained away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "explained away",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "explain away (third-person singular simple present explains away, present participle explaining away, simple past and past participle explained away)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "explain"
    },
    {
      "word": "explanation"
    },
    {
      "word": "explanatory"
    },
    {
      "word": "nothing-buttery"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs with particle (away)",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He couldn't just explain away all of his problems."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 44",
          "text": "I have heard it all. And how you will explain away any part of your guilt in that dreadful business, I confess is beyond my comprehension.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 18, Murtada Elfadl, “Killers Of The Flower Moon review: Martin Scorsese's uniquely American tragedy”, in AV Club",
          "text": "De Niro veers dangerously close to caricature—making chirpy noises, always tilting his head, adding dashes of comedy—yet he ends up personifying evil while never sanding off the edges of this horrible man or trying to explain away his misdeeds with a humanist approach.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dismiss or minimize (a problem, etc.) by explanation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "minimize",
          "minimize"
        ],
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "explanation",
          "explanation"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otdelyvatʹsja",
      "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
      "word": "отделываться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "opravdyvatʹsja",
      "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
      "word": "оправдываться"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to dismiss or minimize by explanation",
      "word": "bortförklara"
    }
  ],
  "word": "explain away"
}