alibi

noun (an alibi, alibis)

«alibi» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

Everyday

(law) An alibi is proof that a person was somewhere else when a crime happened, so they could not have done it. tree →
(informal) An alibi is an excuse. tree →

In the lessons

In detective stories it is a key idea: the detective checks each suspect's alibi. In everyday talk it means any excuse. Phrases: a strong alibi, a cast-iron alibi, check an alibi.

Examples

The butler had an alibi: he was at the shop. tree →
The detective checked every suspect's alibi. tree →
Her alibi was proved false by the CCTV. tree →
"I was with my gran" was his alibi. tree →
My alibi for being late was the bus. tree →
A cast-iron alibi cannot be broken. tree →

Note

Countable: alibis. From Latin for "elsewhere". Said AL-i-bye.

On Mova

Trees and pragmatics of «alibi» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
«alibi» in the school dictionary on Mova free.

This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/alibi/