explain away

English

Verb

explain away (third-person singular simple present explains away, present participle explaining away, simple past and past participle explained away)

1. To dismiss or minimize (a problem, etc.) by explanation.

   He couldn't just explain away all of his problems.

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 44:

     “I have heard it all. And how you will explain away any part of your guilt in that dreadful business, I confess is beyond my comprehension.”

Related terms

• explain
• explanation
• explanatory

Translations

to dismiss or minimize by explanation

• Russian: отделываться (ru) (otdelyvatʹsja)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: bortförklara