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. Spears
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
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb attempted to explain away Seattle’s struggles running the ball against New England.
—Vincent Frank, Forbes, 21 Sep. 2024
This all ties into the camp factor, which could also be used to explain away hacky details like Samantha’s cat as a stand-in for her spinsterhood.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2024
Events like those that unfolded in late July can no longer be easily explained away by the Kremlin.
—Christopher Michael Faulkner, The Conversation, 9 Aug. 2024
Since the director shoehorns himself into a cameo at the very end to arbitrarily explain away one potential plot hole and do some damage control, the final result is mediocre at best.
—Dan Heching, CNN, 6 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for explain away 
Vincent Frank, Forbes, 21 Sep. 2024
This all ties into the camp factor, which could also be used to explain away hacky details like Samantha’s cat as a stand-in for her spinsterhood.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2024
Events like those that unfolded in late July can no longer be easily explained away by the Kremlin.
—Christopher Michael Faulkner, The Conversation, 9 Aug. 2024
Since the director shoehorns himself into a cameo at the very end to arbitrarily explain away one potential plot hole and do some damage control, the final result is mediocre at best.
—Dan Heching, CNN, 6 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for explain away
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'explain away.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Explain away.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/explain%20away. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
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