explain oneself
Idioms-
Clarify what one has said or done, as in If you have a few minutes, I'll try to explain myself . [First half of 1600s]
-
Demand or give an explanation or excuse for something wrong one has done. For example, You're three hours late—can you explain yourself?
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.
Pendleton claims for his art the privilege — the necessity — that the French Caribbean scholar Édouard Glissant called the right to opacity: to not be legible, to not have to explain oneself.
From New York Times • Sep. 10, 2021
One can't explain oneself in a scene here and there....
From Vain Fortune by Moore, George (George Augustus)
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.
