a thousand one excuse
- idiom
- Informal
:
mil y una excusas
- Whenever he's late, he offers a thousand one excuses instead of apologizing.
Examples
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He always seems to have a thousand one excuses for not finishing his work on time.
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She came up with a thousand one excuses to explain why she missed the meeting.
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She had a thousand one excuses for being late.
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Can you believe he made a thousand one excuses?
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He always seems to have a thousand one excuses for not finishing his work on time.
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Whenever he's late, he offers a thousand one excuses instead of apologizing.
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She came up with a thousand one excuses to explain why she missed the meeting.
Synonyms
A very large number of weak reasons someone gives to avoid doing something
Many different reasons for something
How Many
- Offensive
- NSFW
- Informal
859
1.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is simply a numeric hyperbole: the quantifier 'a thousand (and) one' combined with 'excuse' yields the sense 'very many excuses', so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts. This kind of number+noun exaggeration is common across languages and follows regular composition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows 'thousand', 'one', and 'excuse' would reasonably infer the meaning.
Etymology
A thousand one excuse paints a picture of someone giving so many reasons they seem never to end, as if they had a thousand small reasons. That's why it means 'many excuses' or 'to avoid blame'.