wimpy excuse
- noun
- Informal
:
excusa patética
- She gave a wimpy excuse for being late, blaming the traffic when the roads were empty.
Examples
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The teacher rolled her eyes at yet another wimpy excuse from a student about missing homework.
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No one bought his wimpy excuse for missing the meeting; it sounded like he just didn't want to come.
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That was a wimpy excuse for not attending the meeting.
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She always has a wimpy excuse ready when she is late.
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No one bought his wimpy excuse for missing the meeting; it sounded like he just didn't want to come.
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The teacher rolled her eyes at yet another wimpy excuse from a student about missing homework.
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She gave a wimpy excuse for being late, blaming the traffic when the roads were empty.
Synonyms
A weak excuse that people do not believe
A weak reason used so often people no longer believe it
A weak, unconvincing reason someone gives for not doing something
A weak reason someone gives to avoid blame
How Convincing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'wimpy' (weak, ineffectual) directly modifies 'excuse' (a justification), so the combined meaning 'a weak or unconvincing justification' is a straightforward compositional inference. This follows a standard adjective+noun pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily derive the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Wimpy excuse may come from the word wimpy, which describes a weak, timid person, and the word excuse means a reason. Imagine that shy, weak person giving a soft, not believable reason, and you can see why a wimpy excuse means an excuse that is 'weak' or 'not believable'.