ALIBI

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does alibi mean? 

• ALIBI (noun)
  The noun ALIBI has 2 senses:

1. (law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question

2. a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.

  Familiarity information: ALIBI used as a noun is rare.

• ALIBI (verb)
  The verb ALIBI has 1 sense:

1. exonerate by means of an alibi

  Familiarity information: ALIBI used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALIBI (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("alibi" is a kind of...):

defence; defense; vindication (the justification for some act or belief)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

alibi (exonerate by means of an alibi)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

alibi; exculpation; excuse; self-justification

Context example:

his transparent self-justification was unacceptable

Hypernyms ("alibi" is a kind of...):

defence; defense; vindication (the justification for some act or belief)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alibi"):

extenuation; mitigation (a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances)

Derivation:

alibi (exonerate by means of an alibi)

• ALIBI (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exonerate by means of an alibi

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "alibi" is one way to...):

excuse; explain (serve as a reason or cause or justification of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

alibi ((law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question)

alibi (a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.)

 Context examples 

The proof of this lies in the fact that it was he who had arranged for the presence of Scott Eccles, which could only have been done for the purpose of an alibi.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I see, he might have proved an alibi.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Exactly, my dear Watson; he might have proved an alibi.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I say ‘criminal’ because only a man with a criminal enterprise desires to establish an alibi.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is equally certain that this house cannot be more than a mile or two from Oxshott, since Garcia was walking in that direction and hoped, according to my reading of the facts, to be back in Wisteria Lodge in time to avail himself of an alibi, which would only be valid up to one o’clock.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)