Alibi Ike

noun

One who is always ready to provide excuses for shortcomings, errors, or other difficulties.

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Meanings

nounAlibi Ike (plural Alibi Ikes)

plural Alibi Ikes

  1. informalOne who is always ready to provide excuses for shortcomings, errors, or other difficulties.

    Now, I'm no Alibi Ike, Teddy, but I think that was my downfall.

    2010, Frank Deford, Bliss, Remembered: A Novel, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    Many times I have heard the "alibi Ike's" and apologists brush off complaints and ignore behaviors because the deviator in question is too critical, too important, too tenured, or too something!

    2002, Jerome Alexander, 160 Degrees of Deviation: The Case for the Corporate Cynic, →ISBN, page 28

    There's no foulup so lame that keepers of the flame like Andrew Bacevich, the modern Alibi Ike, can't excuse, spin and downplay.

    2014 June 6, HarryRPitts, comment on "Benghazi, Bowe Bergdahl, and manufactured brouhaha" by Andrew Bacevich, Boston Globe (retrieved 10 July 2014)

    Synonyms: apologist

Synonyms & antonyms

nounOne who is always ready to provide excuses for shortcomings, errors, or other difficulties.

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Origin

From the principal character in "Alibi Ike" (1915), a short story by Ring Lardner Sr., and a subsequent film (1935) of the same name.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Alibi Ike. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alibi%20Ike

MLA

“Alibi Ike.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alibi%20Ike. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Alibi Ike,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alibi%20Ike.

Source: Alibi Ike on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.