explain away

verb

To dismiss or minimize (a problem, etc.) by explanation.

“He couldn't just explain away all of his problems.”

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Meanings

verbexplain away (third-person singular simple present explains away, present participle explaining away, simple past and past participle explained away)

present singular third person explains away · participle present explaining away · participle past explained away · past explained away

  1. transitiveTo dismiss or minimize (a problem, etc.) by explanation.

    He couldn't just explain away all of his problems.

    3 more examples

    “I have heard it all. And how you will explain away any part of your guilt in that dreadful business, I confess is beyond my comprehension.”

    1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 44, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

    De Niro veers dangerously close to caricature—making chirpy noises, always tilting his head, adding dashes of comedy—yet he ends up personifying evil while never sanding off the edges of this horrible man or trying to explain away his misdeeds with a humanist approach.

    2023 October 18, Murtada Elfadl, “Killers Of The Flower Moon review: Martin Scorsese's uniquely American tragedy”, in AV Club

    I’m all for embracing converts to the anti-Trump cause. But if you listen to the dialogue between Tucker and his brother, it’s clear that rather than honestly reckoning with their role in America’s derangement, they’re developing a new conspiracy theory to explain it away.

    2026 April 24, Michelle Goldberg, “The Conspiracy Theory Behind Tucker Carlson’s Apology”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Translations

German weger­klä­ren
  • weger­klä­rento dismiss or minimize by explanation
Russian отделываться, оправдываться
  • отделываться (otdelyvatʹsja)to dismiss or minimize by explanation
  • оправдываться (opravdyvatʹsja)to dismiss or minimize by explanation
Swedish bortförklara
  • bortförklarato dismiss or minimize by explanation
Cite this entry
APA

explain away. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explain%20away

MLA

“explain away.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explain%20away. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “explain away,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explain%20away.

Source: explain away on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.