The children provided a convenient excuse for missing the party
standard, usual
every
She seized on every excuse to avoid doing the work
the slightest
He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse
VERB + EXCUSE
have
He had no excuse for being so late
give, make, offer
She made some feeble excuse about the car having broken down. You don't have to make excuses for her (= try to think of reasons for her behaviour) . It's late. I'm afraid I'll have to make my excuses (= say I'm sorry, give my reasons and leave)
give sb, offer sb, provide (sb with)
Delivering the stuff for Rodney gave me an excuse to take the car. Her mother's illness provided her with an excuse to stay at home
need
look for
find, invent, make up, seize on, think up
She had to find a valid excuse for leaving the room. He made up a rather lame excuse for the work being late
use sth as
The political crisis is being used as an excuse to dock people's pay
run out of
He's run out of excuses for not tidying his room
accept, believe
reject
PREP
~ about
He invented a pathetic excuse about losing his watch