"excuse" meaning in English

See excuse in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ɪkˈskjuːs/ [UK], /ɪksˈkjus/ [US] Audio: en-us-excuse-noun.ogg [US] Forms: excuse [singular], excuses [plural]
enPR: ĭkskyo͞os' Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. An excuse is a reason for not doing something or for doing something bad.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-noun-P8p52krI

Verb

IPA: /ɪkˈskjuːz/ [UK], /ɪksˈkjuz/ [US] Audio: en-us-excuse-verb.ogg [US] Forms: excuse [canonical], excuses [third-person, singular], excused [past], excused [past, participle], excusing [present, participle]
enPR: ĭkskyo͞oz' Head templates: {{verb|excus|e}} [POS TABLE]
  1. You say, "excuse me" when you have done something rude,
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb-mWxmipKf
  2. You say, "excuse me" when you want to get someone's attention.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb-qckqqqHp
  3. You say, "excuse me" when you want somebody to move.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb--HOZ~pIM
  4. You say, "excuse me" when you didn't hear somebody very well and you want them to repeat themselves.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb-7V1Qd-T4
  5. If you excuse someone, you forgive them.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb-jD11Gc2z
  6. If you excuse someone, you allow them to avoid doing something.
    Sense id: simple-excuse-en-verb-3VVlRKGE
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "excuse",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excuses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excused",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excused",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excusing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "excus",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you have done something rude,"
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb-mWxmipKf",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you want to get someone's attention."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb-qckqqqHp",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you want somebody to move."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb--HOZ~pIM",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you didn't hear somebody very well and you want them to repeat themselves."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb-7V1Qd-T4",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you excuse someone, you forgive them."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb-jD11Gc2z",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you excuse someone, you allow them to avoid doing something."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-verb-3VVlRKGE",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "ĭkskyo͞oz'",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪkˈskjuːz/",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Iks\"kju:z/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪksˈkjuz/",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Eks\"kjuz/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-excuse-verb.ogg",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "excuse"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "excuse",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excuses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There is no excuse for hitting your sister."
        },
        {
          "text": "Do you have an excuse for being late?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An excuse is a reason for not doing something or for doing something bad."
      ],
      "id": "simple-excuse-en-noun-P8p52krI"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "ĭkskyo͞os'",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪkˈskjuːs/",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Iks\"kju:s/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪksˈkjus/",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Eks\"kjus/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-excuse-noun.ogg",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "excuse"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "excuse",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excuses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excused",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excused",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excusing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "excus",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you have done something rude,"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you want to get someone's attention."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you want somebody to move."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You say, \"excuse me\" when you didn't hear somebody very well and you want them to repeat themselves."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you excuse someone, you forgive them."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you excuse someone, you allow them to avoid doing something."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "ĭkskyo͞oz'",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪkˈskjuːz/",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Iks\"kju:z/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪksˈkjuz/",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Eks\"kjuz/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-excuse-verb.ogg",
      "poses": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "excuse"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "excuse",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "excuses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There is no excuse for hitting your sister."
        },
        {
          "text": "Do you have an excuse for being late?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An excuse is a reason for not doing something or for doing something bad."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "ĭkskyo͞os'",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪkˈskjuːs/",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Iks\"kju:s/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪksˈkjus/",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "sampa": "/Eks\"kjus/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-excuse-noun.ogg",
      "poses": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "excuse"
}

Download raw JSONL data for excuse meaning in English (2.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.