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

Pagels, rehabilitating aspects of Christianity on terms that a secular scholar can respect, revels in the contradictions and the inconsistencies not as flaws to be explained away but as signs of the faith’s capaciousness. —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025

Given there were parent chaperones on the trip, students figured this would be hard to explain away, even for Green. —Air Mail, 3 May 2025

The tremors can be so muffled and distant that people continually adapt, explaining away the anomalies. —Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025

However easy that is to explain away, that factoid remains kind of interesting. —Clem Chambers, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1688, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for explain away

• andromache
• bioassay
• cabriolet
• cercariae
• communique
• companionway
• compositae
• decussate
• examinee
• fabaceae
• glyphosate
• microarray

Kids Definition

explain away

verb

: to cause to seem less important by explaining

explained away her mistake