explain away
verb
explained away; explaining away; explains away
1
: to get rid of by or as if by explanation
2
: to minimize the significance of by or as if by explanation
explains his faults, but does not try to explain them away—
M. K. Spears
M. K. SpearsExamples of explain away in a Sentence
after the surprise attack, military leaders struggled to explain away the nation's unpreparedness
tried to explain away his adulterous affairs by saying that men are promiscuous by nature
Recent Examples on the Web
Certainly, there are swing issues that can’t be explained away by a good week at Triple-A.
—John Shipley, Twin Cities, 29 May 2026
These agents can do in seconds what used to take an analyst weeks — and the institutions that put one in their enrollment team’s hands this June will shape a class the rest will spend September trying to explain away.
—Vinay Bhaskara, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
The Mouse House also seems dead set on retconning all of its best villains, with recent movies giving weepy sob stories to Cruella de Vil, Maleficent and Scar to explain away their cruelty.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 24 May 2026
There was no explaining away a mistake like that.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for explain away
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John Shipley, Twin Cities, 29 May 2026
These agents can do in seconds what used to take an analyst weeks — and the institutions that put one in their enrollment team’s hands this June will shape a class the rest will spend September trying to explain away.
—Vinay Bhaskara, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
The Mouse House also seems dead set on retconning all of its best villains, with recent movies giving weepy sob stories to Cruella de Vil, Maleficent and Scar to explain away their cruelty.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 24 May 2026
There was no explaining away a mistake like that.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for explain away
Cite this Entry
“Explain away.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/explain%20away. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
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