explain away

verb

explained away; explaining away; explains away

transitive verb

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

Synonyms

• account (for)
• attribute
• explain
• rationalize

Examples 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

The quarterback attempted to explain away the situation after the fact. —Vincent Frank, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024

Will explains away all of the suspicious pieces of evidence pointing in his direction. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024

In their universe, Trump was waging a secret war against the deep state, and no matter what happened in the real world—like Trump losing the 2020 election, or being found guilty in court—it was always explained away as being part of the plan. —David Gilbert, WIRED, 14 Aug. 2024

This time, even Riley knew there was no sense in trying to explain away how close his Trojans had come. —Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1688, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

explain away

verb

: to cause to seem less important by explaining

explained away her mistake