Mistake vs Excuse - What's the difference?
mistake | excuse |
An error; a blunder.
* 1877 , Henry Heth, quoting , in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [http://books.google.com/books?id=iDIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA292&dq=lee+%22mistakes+were+made%22&hl=en&ei=fchaTbu4L8L98AaVs4n-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lee%20%22mistakes%20were%20made%22&f=false]
(baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard to hit location, but instead ends up in an easy to hit place
To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.
* Shakespeare
* Johnson
To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.
* Jonathan Swift
(obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.
To forgive; to pardon.
* Shakespeare
* Archbishop Sharp
To allow to leave.
To provide an excuse for; to explain, with the aim of alleviating guilt or negative judgement.
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
An explanation designed to avoid or alleviate guilt or negative judgment.
(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)
As verbs the difference between mistake and excuse
is that mistake is to understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else while excuse is .As a noun mistake
is an error; a blunder.mistake
English
Noun
(en noun)- After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes' were made. I notice, however, that my ' mistakes are never told me until it is too late.
Synonyms
* See alsoUsage notes
* Usually make a mistake. SeeVerb
- Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.
- My father's purposes have been mistook .
- A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.
- Servants mistake , and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.
- (Shakespeare)
Derived terms
* mistakelessexcuse
English
Verb
(excus)- I excused him his transgressions.
- I must excuse what cannot be amended.
- 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.
- May I be excused from the table?
- I excused myself from the proceedings to think over what I'd heard.
- You know he shouldn't have done it, so don't try to excuse his behavior!
- Think ye that we excuse ourselves to you?
Synonyms
* forgive, let off the hook, let pass, pardon, unguiltDerived terms
* excuse me * excuse my FrenchNoun
(en noun)- Tell me why you were late – and I don't want to hear any excuses !
- 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.