excuser

English

Etymology

excuse +‎ -er

Noun

excuser (plural excusers)

1. One who offers excuses or pleads in extenuation of the fault of another.
   • 1730, Jonathan Swift, A Vindication of Lord Carteret:

     In vain would his excusers endeavour to palliate his enormities, by imputing them to madness; because it is well known, that madness only operates by inflaming and enlarging the good or evil dispositions of the mind.

2. One who excuses or forgives another.
   • 1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC:

     yet love is a sufficient excuse and excuser of greater errors than are mine

References

“excuser”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• excurse

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French excuser, from Old French escuser, borrowed from Latin excūsāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.sky.ze/

• Audio

  (file)

• (colloquial) IPA^(key): /ɛs.ky.ze/

Verb

excuser

1. (transitive) to excuse (to forgive, to pardon)

   Near-synonym: pardonner

   excusez du peu ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Conjugation

Conjugation of excuser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	excuser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	excusant /ɛk.sky.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		excusé /ɛk.sky.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	excuse /ɛk.skyz/	excuses /ɛk.skyz/	excuse /ɛk.skyz/	excusons /ɛk.sky.zɔ̃/	excusez /ɛk.sky.ze/	excusent /ɛk.skyz/
	imperfect	excusais /ɛk.sky.zɛ/	excusais /ɛk.sky.zɛ/	excusait /ɛk.sky.zɛ/	excusions /ɛk.sky.zjɔ̃/	excusiez /ɛk.sky.zje/	excusaient /ɛk.sky.zɛ/
	past historic2	excusai /ɛk.sky.ze/	excusas /ɛk.sky.za/	excusa /ɛk.sky.za/	excusâmes /ɛk.sky.zam/	excusâtes /ɛk.sky.zat/	excusèrent /ɛk.sky.zɛʁ/
	future	excuserai /ɛk.skyz.ʁe/	excuseras /ɛk.skyz.ʁa/	excusera /ɛk.skyz.ʁa/	excuserons /ɛk.skyz.ʁɔ̃/	excuserez /ɛk.skyz.ʁe/	excuseront /ɛk.skyz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	excuserais /ɛk.skyz.ʁɛ/	excuserais /ɛk.skyz.ʁɛ/	excuserait /ɛk.skyz.ʁɛ/	excuserions /ɛk.sky.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	excuseriez /ɛk.sky.zə.ʁje/	excuseraient /ɛk.skyz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	excuse /ɛk.skyz/	excuses /ɛk.skyz/	excuse /ɛk.skyz/	excusions /ɛk.sky.zjɔ̃/	excusiez /ɛk.sky.zje/	excusent /ɛk.skyz/
	imperfect2	excusasse /ɛk.sky.zas/	excusasses /ɛk.sky.zas/	excusât /ɛk.sky.za/	excusassions /ɛk.sky.za.sjɔ̃/	excusassiez /ɛk.sky.za.sje/	excusassent /ɛk.sky.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	excuse /ɛk.skyz/	—	excusons /ɛk.sky.zɔ̃/	excusez /ɛk.sky.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• excuse

See also

• mettre hors de cause

Further reading

• “excuser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

excūser

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of excūsō

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French escuser, borrowed from Latin excūsō, excūsāre.

Verb

excuser

1. to excuse; to pardon

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of excuser

infinitive	simple	excuser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	excusant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		excusé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	excuse	excuses	excuse	excusons	excusez	excusent
	imperfect	excusois, excusoys	excusois, excusoys	excusoit, excusoyt	excusions, excusyons	excusiez, excusyez	excusoient, excusoyent
	past historic	excusa	excusas	excusa	excusasmes	excusastes	excuserent
	future	excuserai, excuseray	excuseras	excusera	excuserons	excuserez	excuseront
	conditional	excuserois, excuseroys	excuserois, excuseroys	excuseroit, excuseroyt	excuserions, excuseryons	excuseriez, excuseryez	excuseroient, excuseroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	excuse	excuses	excuse	excusons	excusez	excusent
	imperfect	excusasse	excusasses	excusast	excusassions	excusassiez	excusassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	excuse	—	excusons	excusez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).