| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | disguise; alleged reason |
| Synonyms: | affectation, alibi, appearance, bluff, cleanup, cloak, color*, coloring, cop-out, cover, cover story, cover-up, device, excuse, face, feint, fig leaf, front, guise, mask, masquerade, plea, ploy, pretense, red herring, routine, ruse, semblance, show, simulation, song and dance, stall, stratagem, subterfuge, veil* |
| Antonyms: | reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | bluff |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | boast; deceit |
| Synonyms: | bluster, braggadocio, bragging, bravado, deception, delusion, facade, fake, false colors, false front, feint, fraud, front, humbug, jiving, lie, pretense, pretext, ruse, sham, show, snow*, stall, subterfuge, trick |
| Main Entry: | cloak |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | cover; coat |
| Synonyms: | beard, blind, camouflage, cape, capote, disguise, facade, face, front, guise, manteau, mantle, mask, pretext, semblance, shawl, shield, show, veneer, wrap |
| Main Entry: | cloak |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | disguise |
| Synonyms: | blanket, camouflage, coat, conceal, cover, curtain, dissemble, dissimulate, dress up, hide, mask, obscure, pretext, screen, shroud, veil |
| Antonyms: | reveal, uncloak, uncover |
| Main Entry: | color |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | deceptive appearance |
| Synonyms: | deception, disguise, excuse, facade, face, false show, front, guise, mask, plea, pretense, pretext, put-on, semblance, show |
| Notes: | color refers to the wavelength composition of light, shade is a gradation of color referring to its degree of darkness, tint is a gradation referring to its degree of lightness, and hue indicates a modification of a basic color |
| Main Entry: | deception |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
| Synonyms: | artifice, bilk, bluff, catch, cheat, chicane, con, con game, confidence game, cover-up, crock, decoy, device, dodge, fallacy, fast one, fast shuffle, feint, fib, fraud, gimmick, hoax, hogwash, hustle, illusion, imposture, jive, lie, malarkey, mare's-nest, pretext, ride*, ruse, scam, sham, shift, shuck, snare, snow job, stall, sting, story, stratagem, subterfuge, swindle, trap, trick, whitewash, wile, wrinkle |
| Main Entry: | evasion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | escape, avoidance |
| Synonyms: | artifice, circumvention, cop-out, cunning, ditch*, dodge*, dodging, elusion, equivocating, equivocation, eschewal, evading, evasiveness, excuse, fancy footwork, fudging, fugiviteness, fugivity, jive, lie, obliqueness, pretext, prevarication, quibble, routine, run-around, ruse, shift, shirking, shuffling, shunning, slip*, sophism, sophistry, stall, stonewall, subterfuge, trick, trickery |
| Antonyms: | directness, facing, meeting |
| Main Entry: | excuse |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | reason, explanation |
| Synonyms: | alibi, apology, cleanup, cop-out, cover story, cover*, coverup, defense, disguise, evasion, expedient, extenuation, fish story, grounds, jive, justification, makeshift, mitigation, plea, pretext, rationalization, regrets, routine, semblance, shift, song and dance, song*, stall, stopgap, story, substitute, subterfuge, trick*, vindication, whitewash, why and wherefore |
| Notes: | an alias is an assumed name, an alibi is a form of defense whereby a defendant attempts to prove that he or she was elsewhere when the crime in question was committed, while an excuse is an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness a pardon is the act of excusing a mistake or offense; an excuse is an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness |
| Main Entry: | excuse |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | forgive, absolve; justify |
| Synonyms: | acquit, alibi, apologize for, appease, bear with, clear, condone, cover, defend, discharge, dispense from, exculpate, exempt, exempt from, exonerate, explain, extenuate, forgive, free, give absolution, grant amnesty, indulge, let go, let off, liberate, make allowances for, mitigate, overlook, pardon, pass over, plead ignorance, pretext, purge, rationalize, release, relieve, remit, reprieve, shrive, shrug off, spare, take rap for, tolerate, vindicate, whitewash, wink at |
| Notes: | an alias is an assumed name, an alibi is a form of defense whereby a defendant attempts to prove that he or she was elsewhere when the crime in question was committed, while an excuse is an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness a pardon is the act of excusing a mistake or offense; an excuse is an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness |