alibi

See also: Alibi and álibi

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī (“elsewhere, at another place”, adverb).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ə.baɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

alibi (plural alibis)

1. (law) The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.

   to set up an alibi

   to prove an alibi

   • 1988, Criminal Law Deskbook, →ISBN:

     Alibi is different from all of the other defenses . . . it is based upon the premise that the defendant is truly innocent.

2. (sometimes proscribed) An excuse, especially one used to avoid responsibility or blame.

Usage notes

• A very good alibi might be described e.g. as perfect, watertight, airtight, solid or iron-clad.
• Some argue this cannot be used in the non-legal sense of "an explanation or excuse to avoid blame or justify action."

Derived terms

• alibi copy
• Alibi Ike

Translations

criminal legal defense

• Arabic: دَفْع بِالْغَائِبَة‎ m (dafʕ bi-l-ḡāʔiba)
• Armenian: ալիբի (hy) (alibi), այլուրեքություն (hy) (aylurekʿutʿyun)
• Belarusian: а́лібі n (álibi)
• Catalan: coartada
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不在場證明／不在场证明 (bùzàichǎng zhèngmíng)

• Czech: alibi (cs) n
• Danish: alibi (da)
• Dutch: alibi (nl) n
• Esperanto: alibio
• Finnish: alibi (fi)
• French: alibi (fr) m
• German: Alibi (de) n
• Greek: άλλοθι (el) n (állothi)
• Hungarian: alibi (hu)
• Icelandic: fjarvistarsönnun (is) f
• Indonesian: alibi (id)
• Italian: alibi (it) m
• Japanese: アリバイ (ja) (aribai), 現場不在証明 (げんじょうふざいしょうめい, genjōfuzaishōmei)
• Kannada: ಅಲಿಬಿ (alibi)
• Korean: 알리바이 (ko) (allibai), 알리비 (allibi)
• Norwegian: alibi (no)
• Polish: alibi (pl) n
• Portuguese: álibi (pt) m
• Russian: а́либи (ru) n (álibi)
• Serbo-Croatian: alibi m
• Slovak: alibi n
• Spanish: coartada (es) f
• Swedish: alibi (sv) n

excuse

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 藉口／借口 (zh) (jièkǒu)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: veruke (fi)
• German: Alibi (de) n, Rechtfertigung (de) f, Ausrede (de) f, Entschuldigung (de) f
• Greek: άλλοθι (el) n (állothi), δικαιολογία (el) f (dikaiología)
• Italian: alibi (it) m
• Polish: alibi (pl) n
• Portuguese: desculpa (pt) f
• Spanish: excusa (es) f

Verb

alibi (third-person singular simple present alibis or alibies, present participle alibiing, simple past and past participle alibied)

1. To provide an alibi for.
2. To provide an excuse for.

See also

• Alibi on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Defense (legal) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Locked-room mystery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Perfect murder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• baili

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaː.liˌbi/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ali‧bi

Noun

alibi n or m (plural alibi's, diminutive alibietje n)

1. alibi

Descendants

• → Indonesian: alibi

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑlibi/, [ˈɑ̝libi]
• Rhymes: -ɑlibi
• Syllabification^(key): a‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi

1. alibi

Declension

Inflection of alibi (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		alibi	alibit
genitive		alibin	alibien
partitive		alibia	alibeja
illative		alibiin	alibeihin
		singular	plural
nominative		alibi	alibit
accusative	nom.	alibi	alibit
	gen.	alibin
genitive		alibin	alibien
partitive		alibia	alibeja
inessive		alibissa	alibeissa
elative		alibista	alibeista
illative		alibiin	alibeihin
adessive		alibilla	alibeilla
ablative		alibilta	alibeilta
allative		alibille	alibeille
essive		alibina	alibeina
translative		alibiksi	alibeiksi
instructive		—	alibein
abessive		alibitta	alibeitta
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of alibi (type risti)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative alibini alibini accusative nom. alibini alibini gen. alibini genitive alibini alibieni partitive alibiani alibejani inessive alibissani alibeissani elative alibistani alibeistani illative alibiini alibeihini adessive alibillani alibeillani ablative alibiltani alibeiltani allative alibilleni alibeilleni essive alibinani alibeinani translative alibikseni alibeikseni instructive — — abessive alibittani alibeittani comitative — alibeineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative alibisi alibisi accusative nom. alibisi alibisi gen. alibisi genitive alibisi alibiesi partitive alibiasi alibejasi inessive alibissasi alibeissasi elative alibistasi alibeistasi illative alibiisi alibeihisi adessive alibillasi alibeillasi ablative alibiltasi alibeiltasi allative alibillesi alibeillesi essive alibinasi alibeinasi translative alibiksesi alibeiksesi instructive — — abessive alibittasi alibeittasi comitative — alibeinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alibimme alibimme accusative nom. alibimme alibimme gen. alibimme genitive alibimme alibiemme partitive alibiamme alibejamme inessive alibissamme alibeissamme elative alibistamme alibeistamme illative alibiimme alibeihimme adessive alibillamme alibeillamme ablative alibiltamme alibeiltamme allative alibillemme alibeillemme essive alibinamme alibeinamme translative alibiksemme alibeiksemme instructive — — abessive alibittamme alibeittamme comitative — alibeinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alibinne alibinne accusative nom. alibinne alibinne gen. alibinne genitive alibinne alibienne partitive alibianne alibejanne inessive alibissanne alibeissanne elative alibistanne alibeistanne illative alibiinne alibeihinne adessive alibillanne alibeillanne ablative alibiltanne alibeiltanne allative alibillenne alibeillenne essive alibinanne alibeinanne translative alibiksenne alibeiksenne instructive — — abessive alibittanne alibeittanne comitative — alibeinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative alibinsa alibinsa accusative nom. alibinsa alibinsa gen. alibinsa genitive alibinsa alibiensa partitive alibiaan alibiansa alibejaan alibejansa inessive alibissaan alibissansa alibeissaan alibeissansa elative alibistaan alibistansa alibeistaan alibeistansa illative alibiinsa alibeihinsa adessive alibillaan alibillansa alibeillaan alibeillansa ablative alibiltaan alibiltansa alibeiltaan alibeiltansa allative alibilleen alibillensa alibeilleen alibeillensa essive alibinaan alibinansa alibeinaan alibeinansa translative alibikseen alibiksensa alibeikseen alibeiksensa instructive — — abessive alibittaan alibittansa alibeittaan alibeittansa comitative — alibeineen alibeinensa

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.li.bi/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

alibi m (plural alibis)

1. alibi

Further reading

• “alibi”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch alibi, from Latin alibī (“elsewhere, at another place”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈali.bi]
• Hyphenation: ali‧bi

Noun

alibi (first-person possessive alibiku, second-person possessive alibimu, third-person possessive alibinya)

1. alibi:
   1. (law) the plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
   2. (slang) excuse

      Synonym: alasan

Further reading

• “alibi” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.bi/
• Rhymes: -alibi
• Hyphenation: à‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi m (invariable)

1. alibi

Anagrams

• Libia, abili, bilia

Latin

Alternative forms

• aliubi (rare)

Etymology

From alius (“other, another”) + ibī.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.biː/, [ˈälʲɪbiː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.bi/, [ˈäːlibi]

Adverb

alibī (not comparable)

1. elsewhere, somewhere else

Related terms

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	interrogative	indefinite	(medial) demonstrative	proximal demonstrative	distal demonstrative	relative	indefinite relative	identity	other
basic	quis, quī	quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quisque, quisquam, aliquisquam, quispiam, ūllus	is, iste, istic	hic	ille, illic	quī	quisquis, quīcumque	ipse, īdem	alter, alius
dual	uter	alteruter, uterque				uter	utercumque
number	quot	aliquot	tot			quot	quotquot, quotcumque	totidem
order	quotus		totus			quotus	quotuscumque
quantity	quam	aliquam	tam			quam	†quamquam	†tamen, †tandem
size	quantus	aliquantus	tantus			quantus	quantuscumque	tantusdem
quality	quālis	aliquālis	tālis			quālis	quālis, quāliscumque
manner	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utique, quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō	ita, sic, eō/istō modō	hōc modō	illō modō	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque	item, itidem	aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō
method, path, place	quā	aliquā, quāque	eā, istāc	hāc	illāc	quā	quāquā, quācumque	eādem	aliā
place	ubi	alicubi, ubique, usquam, uspiam	ibi, istic	hīc	illīc	ubi	ubiubi, ubicumque	ibidem	alibī, aliās
source	unde	alicunde, undeunde	inde, istinc	hinc	illinc	unde	undecumque	indidem	aliunde
destination	quō, quōrsum	aliquō, quōquam, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum	eō, istūc, °istōrsum	hūc, °hōrsum	illūc, °illōrsum	quō	quōquō, quōcumque	eōdem	aliō, aliorsum
time	quandō	quondam, aliquandō, quandōque, umquam	tum, tunc	num, nunc	ōlim	cum, quandō	cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque	simul	aliās
exact time	quota hōra		ea/ista hōra	hac hōra	illa hōra	quota hōra	quotacumque hōra	eadem hōra	altera/alia hōra
repetition	quotiēns	aliquotiēns	totiēns			quotiēns	quotiēnscumque
multiplication	quotuplex		totuplex			quotuplex
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimulated ° Rare

Descendants

• → English: alibi
• → Danish: alibi
• → Dutch: alibi
• → Finnish: alibi
• → French: alibi
• → German: Alibi
• → Italian: alibi
• → Norwegian: alibi
• → Polish: alibi (learned)
• → Portuguese: álibi
• → Romanian: alibi, aiurea
• → Russian: а́либи (álibi)
• → Swedish: alibi

References

• “alibi”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “alibi”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• alibi in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin alibī. First attested in 1802.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈli.bi/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ibi
• Syllabification: a‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi n

1. (law) alibi (plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed)
2. (literary) alibi (excuse, especially one used to avoid responsibility or blame)

Derived terms

nouns

• alibista
• alibizm

 

Collocations

Collocations

• wygodne alibi ― a convenient alibi
• niezbite alibi ― an irrefutable alibi
• żelazne alibi ― an iron-clad/cast-iron alibi
• swoiste alibi ― a peculiar alibi
• stuprocentowe alibi ― an airtight alibi
• murowane alibi ― a rock-solid alibi
• wiarygodne alibi ― a credible alibi
• mocne alibi ― a strong alibi
• fałszywe alibi ― a false/fake alibi
• doskonałe alibi ― a perfect alibi
• świetne alibi ― a great alibi
• moralne alibi ― a moral alibi
• kiepskie alibi ― a lousy/flimsy alibi
• dobre alibi ― a good alibi
• znakomite alibi ― a great alibi
• sensowne alibi ― a sensible/logical alibi
• polityczne alibi ― a political alibi
• alibi oskarżonego/oskarżonej ― the accused's alibi
• mieć alibi ― to have alibi
• zapewnić/dostarczać/dostarczyć/podać alibi ― to provide an alibi
• szukać alibi ― to look for an alibi
• sprawdzać/sprawdzić alibi ― to verify/check an alibi
• stanowić alibi ― to be alibi
• stwarzać/stworzyć alibi ― to craft an alibi
• przedstawiać/przedstawić alibi ― to present an alibi
• obalić alibi ― to bust/crack/disprove an alibi
• dawać/dać alibi ― to give alibi
• potwierdzić alibi ― to confirm/corroborate alibi
• wymyślić alibi ― to come up with/think up/concoct an alibi
• stracić alibi ― to lose an alibi
• potrzebować alibi ― to need an alibi
• znaleźć alibi ― to find an alibi
• uzyskać alibi ― to get an alibi

References

• Pęzik, Piotr; Przepiórkowski, A.; Bańko, M.; Górski, R.; Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B (2012) Wyszukiwarka PELCRA dla danych NKJP. Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego [National Polish Language Corpus, PELCRA search engine]‎^[2], Wydawnictwo PWN

Further reading

• alibi in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• alibi in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “alibi”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 24

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French alibi.

Noun

alibi n (plural alibiuri)

1. alibi

Declension

Declension of alibi

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) alibi	alibiul	(niște) alibiuri	alibiurile
genitive/dative	(unui) alibi	alibiului	(unor) alibiuri	alibiurilor
vocative	alibiule		alibiurilor

Rukai

Noun

alibi

1. stone tiles of a roof

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

àlībi m (Cyrillic spelling а̀лӣби)

1. alibi

Declension

Declension of alibi

	singular	plural
nominative	alibi	alibiji
genitive	alibija	alibija
dative	alibiju	alibijima
accusative	alibi	alibije
vocative	alibi	alibiji
locative	alibiju	alibijima
instrumental	alibijem	alibijima

Slovak

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈalibi/

Noun

alibi n

1. alibi

Declension

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• alibi in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

Swedish

Noun

alibi n

1. (law) an alibi

   Hon saknar alibi för mordnatten

   She has no alibi for the night of the murder

2. (by extension) an alibi (excuse, more generally)

Declension

Declension of alibi
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	alibi	alibit	alibin	alibina
Genitive	alibis	alibits	alibins	alibinas

References

• alibi in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• alibi in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• alibi in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)