weasellike excuse
- noun
- /ˈwiːzəlˌlaɪk ɪkˈskjus/
- Informal
:
excusa evasiva
- The manager was tired of hearing yet another weasellike excuse for missing the deadline.
Examples
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His weasellike excuses did nothing to convince the committee of his innocence.
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Don't give me a weasellike excuse for missing the deadline!
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She offered a weasellike excuse when asked why she forgot their anniversary.
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He offered a weasellike excuse to avoid the meeting.
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His weasellike excuses did nothing to convince the committee of his innocence.
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The manager was tired of hearing yet another weasellike excuse for missing the deadline.
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She offered a weasellike excuse when asked why she forgot their anniversary.
Synonyms
52
3.7
An excuse a person gives to avoid blame for not doing something
9
7.1
An action or statement that hides the real reason behind something
8
6.1
A clever trick used to avoid answering a question
A weak, unconvincing reason someone gives for not doing something
A false story someone gives to avoid blame
A false or silly story people tell to avoid blame
A silly made-up reason someone gives to avoid blame
Antonyms
198
6.1
Being responsible for your actions and having to explain them to other people
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
weasellike + excuse
The phrase is transparently built from 'weasel' + '-like' + 'excuse' so a learner who knows 'weasel' (with its common metaphorical sense of slyness/evasiveness) and the suffix '-like' can infer 'an excuse that is deceitful or evasive'. This animal-metaphor + -like composition follows regular English morphology and is cross-linguistically accessible, so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Weasellike excuse may come from the small, sneaky animal weasel, known for slipping through holes to get away. The image of a weasel escaping helps explain why a weasellike excuse means a sly reason that 'avoids blame' or 'escapes responsibility'.