What is another word for explain away?

Pronunciation: [ɛksplˈe͡ɪn ɐwˈe͡ɪ] (IPA)

The term "explain away" refers to the act of justifying or rationalizing one's actions or behavior to avoid criticism or consequences. Synonyms for this phrase include excuse, justify, defend, rationalize, and downplay. To excuse oneself is to pardon or absolve oneself from responsibility, while justifying oneself is to provide reasons or evidence to support one's actions. Defending oneself involves protecting oneself from criticism or attack, and rationalizing refers to using flawed reasoning to explain one's actions. Finally, downplaying involves making something appear less important or serious than it actually is. All of these words are commonly used interchangeably with "explain away" in everyday conversation.

What are the hypernyms for Explain away?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

Famous quotes with Explain away

  • When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat.
    Pat Riley
  • The paradox of anti-Semitism is that it is invariably up to the Jews to explain away the charges. The anti-Semite simply has to make them.
    Jack Schwartz
  • When thoroughly reliable people encounter ghosts, their stories are difficult to explain away.
    C. B. Colby
  • Psycho-pathologists very often have to deal with people whose thinking is thus “compulsive.” And when analysis is possible, it is usually found that such persistent ideas are associated with some unconscious impulse. It is characteristic of all compulsive thinking that it is not the outgrowth of conscious reasoning and cannot be modified by evidence. Persons whose thinking is compulsive often seek to “rationalize” it—that is, they resort to ingenious devices to render it plausible or to explain away that which would contradict it. This sort of thinking, as I have tried to show, is a common characteristic of the crowd mind. The thinking of the crowd is dogmatic as a result of causes which are similar to those which render compulsive that of certain neurotics. And dogma is a common element in religion.
    Everett Dean Martin
  • I have never understood why Catholics of culture take pains to deny or to explain away the fact that the Roman Church is not only a religion but also a secular system of government, and that the Church as representative of God upon earth may eo ipso claim — and always has claimed — absolute power in all things of this world.
    Houston Stewart Chamberlain

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