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

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

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

n.apology, apologia, excuse, plea, pretext, alibi mean matter offered in explanation or defense.apology usually applies to an expression of regret for a mistake or wrong with implied admission of guilt or fault and with or without reference to mitigating or extenuating circumstances.said by way of apology that he would have met them if he couldapologia implies not admission of guilt or regret but a desire to make clear the grounds for some course, belief, or position.his speech was an apologia for his foreign policyexcuse implies an intent to avoid or remove blame or censure.used illness as an excuse for missing the meetingplea stresses argument or appeal for understanding or sympathy or mercy.her usual plea that she was nearsightedpretext suggests subterfuge and the offering of false reasons or motives in excuse or explanation.used any pretext to get out of workalibi implies a desire to shift blame or evade punishment and imputes mere plausibility to the explanation.his alibi failed to stand scrutiny

v.excuse, condone, pardon, forgive mean to exact neither punishment nor redress.excuse may refer to specific acts especially in social or conventional situations or the person responsible for these.excuse an interruptionexcused them for interrupting Often the term implies extenuating circumstances.injustice excuses strong responsescondone implies that one overlooks without censure behavior (such as dishonesty or violence) that involves a serious breach of a moral, ethical, or legal code, and the term may refer to the behavior or to the agent responsible for it.a society that condones alcohol but not narcoticspardon implies that one remits a penalty due for an admitted or established offense.pardon a criminalforgive implies that one gives up all claim to requital and to resentment or vengeful feelings.could not forgive their rudeness

in the 13^th century