Excuse vs Extenuation - What's the difference?

excuse | extenuation | Related terms |

Excuse is a related term of extenuation.

As a verb excuse

is .

As a noun extenuation is

extenuation; exhaustion.

excuse

English

Verb

(excus)

To forgive; to pardon.

I excused him his transgressions.

* Shakespeare

I must excuse what cannot be amended.

* Archbishop Sharp

A man's persuasion that a thing is duty, will not excuse him from guilt in practising it, if really and indeed it be against God's law.

To allow to leave.

May I be excused from the table?

I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.

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!

To relieve of an imputation by apology or defense; to make apology for as not seriously evil; to ask pardon or indulgence for.

* Bible, 2. Corinthians xii. 19

Think ye that we excuse ourselves to you?

Synonyms

* forgive, let off the hook, let pass, pardon, unguilt

Derived terms

* excuse me * excuse my French

Noun

(en noun)

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 !

(legal) 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.

An example.(attention)

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.

Usage notes

* We often say to make an excuse.

Synonyms

* (explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment ): pretext

External links

* * English heteronyms ----

extenuation

English

Alternative forms

Noun

# The action or .

#* 1576 , Baker, Jewell of Health , page 171 a:

This mightily helpeth the extenuation of members.

#* 1655 , Culpepper, Riverius , i.v.19:

A yong man…had an extenuation for want of nourishment in his Limbs.

#* 1707 , Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch , page 183:

Galen commends tepid Baths for…curing all Extenuations .

#* 1781 October 27th, Johnson, Let. Mrs. Thrale :

The extenuation is her only bad symptom.

#* 1825 , Scott, Betrothed , xxx:

The female…exhibited…some symptoms of extenuation .

#* 1828 , Biog.'' in ''Ann. Reg. , page 474/2:

Some pallid from extenuation .

# .

#* 1655–60 , Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), page 64/2:

Winds proceed from extenuation of the Air, by the Sun.

# (lb) The action or process of making ; an instance of this.

#* 1619 , Donne, Serm. xiv, page 140:

All Dilatation is some degree of Extenuation .

#* 1665 , Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), page 186:

The Sea is the same at all seasons; what it gets by Rivers and showers, losing by exhalations and extenuations through the excessive heats…within the Torrid Zone.

#* 1777 , Priestley, Matt. & Spir. (1782), volume I, chapter xix, page 229:

Gregory the Great…says that God penetrates everything without extenuation .

# (lb) The action of making ).

#* 1542–3 , Act'' 34–5 ''Hen. VIII , c. 18:

The saide citie is much decaid…not a little to the extenuacion of that part of this realme.

#* 1596 , Shaks., , act III, scene ii, 22:

Such extenuation let me begge, As in reproofe of many Tales deuis’d…I may…Finde pardon on my true submission.

#* 1654 , H. L’Estrange, Chas. I (1655), page 1:

The gallantry of Henry’s heroique spirit tended somewhat to the…extenuation of Charles his glory.

#* 1707 , Atterbury, Serm. v. (1723), volume II, page 159:

What Deeds of Charity we have to alledge in Extenuation of our Punishment.

# The action of .

#* 1614 , Bp. Hall, Recoll. Treat. , page 209:

Sometimes…wee humble ourselves lower than there is cause…And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selves.

#* 1621 , Burton, Anat. Mel. , ii.i.iv.ii.228:

Through their…extenuation [of their grievance], wretchedness and peevishness they undo themselves.

#* 1722 , De Foe, Plague (1840), page 6:

Many died of it every day, so that now all our extenuations abated.

#* 1859 , Mill, Liberty ii. (1865), page 13/2:

The utmost they allow is an extenuation of its absolute necessity.

#* 1873 , A.V.S. Sligo (translator), R.F. Calixte (author), The Life of the Venerable (Anna Maria Taigi) , page 303:

The simple matter-of-fact style of the narrative is, from its unobtrusive character, more adapted for spiritual reading than the views and generalisations, and prologetic extenuations of more recent biographers.

## of something.

##* 1589 , Puttenham, Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.), page 227:

We call him the Disabler or figure of Extenuation .

##* 1657 , J. Smith, Myst. Rhet. , page 56:

When for extenuation sake we use a lighter and more easie word or terme then the matter requires.

##* 1706 , in Phillips

##* 1823 , in'' Crabb, ''Technol. Dict.

# The action of .

#* 1651 , Hobbes, Leviath. , ii., xxvii., page 156:

Extenuation , by which the Crime, that seemed great, is made lesse.

#* ante'' 1674 , Clarendon, ''Surv. Leviath. (1676), page 180:

He…was to find excuses and extenuations for sins.

#* 1712 , Addison, Spect. , ? 297, ¶ 1:

Whatever may be said for the Extenuation of such Defects.

#* 1750 , Johnson, Rambler , ? 39, ¶ 7:

It may be urged, in extenuation of this crime…that [etc.].

#* ante'' 1832 , Bentham, ''Wks. (1843), volume I, page 174:

The differences of castes…furnish a copious stock of extenuations …to different classes of offences.

#* 1839 , Mackintosh, Eth. Philos. , Wks. 1846, volume I, page 28:

In extenuation of a noble error.

# .

#* 1881 May, G.W. Cable in Scribner’s Mag. , page 23:

They were clad in silken extenuations from the throat to the feet.

#* 1883 September 12th, Pall Mall G. , page 2/2:

One side wore…extenuations of a…green colour.

Derived terms

References

* “Extenuation” listed on page 460/2–3] of § 2 (E, ed. (Henry Bradley)) of volume III (D–E, 1897) of [[w:Oxford English Dictionary, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles] (1st ed.)