excuse making
Dodging personal responsibility
Excuse making is the habit or act of offering justifications for failures, shortcomings, or poor behavior rather than accepting responsibility.
The term carries a negative connotation—it suggests the explanations are inadequate or self-serving: I'm tired of your excuse making.
Someone prone to excuse making deflects blame rather than addressing the underlying problem.
- rationalizationInventing acceptable motives afterward
- justificationReason proving rightness
- blame-shiftingAttributing fault to others
- deflectionChange in trajectory
- denialRefusal to accept reality
evasion · alibis · not my fault · cop-out · dodging · shirking · finger-pointing · whitewashing · cover-up · weaseling · weasel words · backpedaling · responsibility · avoidance · spin · damage control · defense · saving face
- homework struggleshomework load, late night cramming, dog ate it
- self-deceptiondenial, delusion, wishful thinking, rationalization, willful blindness
- defenseswall, walls, fence, gate, barrier
- stallingstall, stalling, delay, hesitate, procrastinate
- fallaciesstraw man, red herring, circular reasoning, ad hominem, fallacy
- Impression managementself-presentation, first impression, body language, eye contact, dress code
excuse makingtaking responsibility
owning up · accountability · personal responsibility · admitting fault · confession
excuse makingproblem solving
Addressing challenges systematically
taking action · initiative · making amends · follow-through · corrective action
excuse makingcandor
Unguarded truthfulness
honesty · forthrightness · straight talk · transparency · truthfulness
excuse, making, excuses, excused, excusing, excusable, inexcusable, makers