alibi
Americannoun
-
alibis
plural
-
Law. the defense by an accused person of having been elsewhere at the time an alleged offense was committed.
-
an excuse, especially to avoid blame.
- Synonyms:
- justification, reason, explanation
-
a person used as one's excuse.
My sick grandmother was my alibi for missing school.
verb (used without object)
-
alibis,
present (3rd person singular)
-
alibied,
past participle, past
-
alibiing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
alibis,
present (3rd person singular)
-
alibied,
past participle, past
-
alibiing
present participle
noun
-
law
-
a defence by an accused person that he was elsewhere at the time the crime in question was committed
-
the evidence given to prove this
-
-
informal an excuse
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
alibisimple
-
alibissimple
-
have alibiedperfect
-
has alibiedperfect
-
am alibiingprogressive
-
are alibiingprogressive
-
is alibiingprogressive
-
have been alibiingperfect progressive
-
has been alibiingperfect progressive
Past
-
alibiedsimple
-
had alibiedperfect
-
was alibiingprogressive
-
were alibiingprogressive
-
had been alibiingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of alibi
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin alibī (adverb): “in another place, elsewhere”
Explanation
Your alibi is evidence that proves your innocence. If you were making cookies with your mom when someone raided your sister's piggy bank, your mom is your alibi, since she knows you were with her when the crime was committed. The noun alibi is the same word as its Latin root, alibi, which means "excuse." When you provide an alibi, you are giving proof — a certified excuse — that you could not have committed a crime. Alibi is easy to confuse with alias, which means "an assumed, or false, name."
Vocabulary lists containing alibi
The Westing Game
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Twelve Angry Men
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"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sept. 4 tells us whether that is analysis or alibi.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
During trial, Miles presented an alibi defense that included testimony from his parents, 12-year-old son, a neighbor in Las Vegas and the manager of his Las Vegas apartment, according to the district attorney’s office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Lane’s alibi hinged on whether anyone had seen the sisters alive after his return to rehab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
There is no evidence the Ghanaian investigators ever tested Adusah's alibi - the whole reason for his middle-of-the night departure.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
I didn’t ask him about his alibi witness!
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
"The alibis that were placed forward around the time of the trial; they've been blown out of the water," adds Mr Maleary.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
Baker’s housemates, Duncan Martinez and Nathan Blalock, both military veterans in their early 20s, had been the last known people to see him alive, and served as each other’s alibis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
Both Hall’s wife, scion of a prominent and wealthy New Jersey family, and Mills’s working-class husband appeared to have solid alibis.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022
How many years has it been since each of you was your own man or woman, unfettered by the burden of lies, alibis and pretending not to see?
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2022
There were more courses than O.J. has alibis.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
Williams excoriated feminist leaders who excused Bill and alibied for him.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2017
"The banquet hall was somewhat overheated," he alibied, "and President Kemal merely invited His Excellency the Egyptian Minister to remove his fez for his own greater comfort."
From Time Magazine Archive
He damned his critics, alibied himself, said that his grief and helplessness, bringing on another attack of tuberculosis, had brought him to the edge of the grave.
From Time Magazine Archive
When Berlin was bombed, Germans alibied that the R.A.F.:
From Time Magazine Archive
"That was issued before my time," he alibied.
From The Cartels Jungle by Irving E. Cox
The combination of televised second-guessing, N.F.L. stonewalling and coaches complaining, perhaps alibiing, has brought the striped-shirt arbiters a notoriety they would just as soon had passed them by.
From Time Magazine Archive
By now Detroit was through alibiing for '58.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
