abuse excuse
- noun
- /əˈbjus ɪkˈskjus/
- NSFW
:
excusa de abuso
- He often uses the abuse excuse to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.
Examples
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In court, she presented the abuse excuse as part of her defense strategy.
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Many people believe that the abuse excuse undermines accountability in serious situations.
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The image changes to Larry King interviewing Alan Dershowitz regarding "the abuse excuse."
Fiction book (1996) -
This gender-specific abuse excuse junk science cannot be allowed to enter into the scientific community, as there is nothing scientific about a syndrome/disorder whose only symptoms are a uterus, divorce papers, and bruises.
Blog text (22)
Synonyms
52
3.7
An excuse a person gives to avoid blame for not doing something
2
6.9
Making excuses to defend your actions when they are wrong
Antonyms
198
6.1
Being responsible for your actions and having to explain them to other people
How Justified
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'abuse' (past mistreatment) + 'excuse' (a justification) yields an excuse based on claimed abuse. This noun–noun/phrase construction follows standard, cross-linguistically common patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Abuse excuse paints a picture of someone pointing to old hurts or saying 'I was hurt before' to explain why they did something wrong, with abuse as the past harm and excuse as the reason given. So, it means 'trying to excuse bad behavior by blaming past abuse'.