Excuse and Motive

Excuse

Excuse noun - An explanation that frees one from fault or blame.

Show all Definitions

Motive and excuse are semantically related in subject topic. In some cases you can use "Motive" instead a noun "Excuse", when it comes to topics like reason.

Nearby Words: excusing, excused, excusable

Motive

Motive noun - A major object of interest or concern (as in a discussion or artistic composition).

Show all Definitions

Synonyms for Motive

Antonyms for Motive

Excuse and motive are semantically related in subject topic. Sometimes you can use "Excuse" instead a noun "Motive", if it concerns topics such as reason.

Nearby Words: motivate, motivation, motiveless, motivator, motived

Mutual synonyms

Related pairs

How words are described

sympathetic	sympathetic excuse	sympathetic motive
good	good excuse	good motive
better	better excuse	better motive
similar	similar excuse	similar motive
Other adjectives: common, perfect, reasonable, proper, obvious, actual, real, big, little, bad, excellent, main, decent, new, possible, ridiculous, plausible, different.

Both words in one sentence

HAL: HAL, using his electronic drug, forces the evil out of people and turns them into criminals: Good All Along crosses over with lacking a Freudian Excuse or motive for their actions, something Yako notices early on.

Source: Manga / Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
To the bad guy, committing murder, Cold-Blooded Torture, or any other heinous deeds or crimes based on that motive made sense, or at least, they saw it as a legitimate excuse.

Source: Disappointed by the Motive
This is probably because the "motive" explained in the remake boils down to a cliché Freudian Excuse.

Source: Motive Decay / Film

More sentences

Cite this Source

Motive and Excuse. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/excuse/motive

Excuse & Motive. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/excuse/motive>.

Motive or Excuse. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/excuse/motive.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "excuse" and "motive" have occurred on timeline