explain away
English
Verb
explain away (third-person singular simple present explains away, present participle explaining away, simple past and past participle explained away)
- 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
Translations
to dismiss or minimize by explanation
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