Collocations for excuse - noun

perfect, wonderful | good, legitimate, valid | convincing, plausible, reasonable | feeble, flimsy, lame, pathetic, poor | convenient, easy
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.

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

~ about
He invented a pathetic excuse about losing his watch.

~ for
It''s just an excuse for a party.

there is no excuse for …
There''s no excuse for such behaviour.

pathetic, poor

~ for
Why get involved with that pathetic excuse for a human being?