Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A form of defense whereby a defendant attempts to prove that he or she was elsewhere when the crime in question was committed.
  • noun The fact of having been elsewhere when a crime in question was committed.
  • noun An explanation offered to avoid blame or justify action; an excuse.
  • intransitive verb To make an excuse for oneself.
  • intransitive verb To make an excuse for (another).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In law, elsewhere; at another place.
  • noun In law, a plea of having been elsewhere at the time an offense is alleged to have been committed.
  • noun The fact or state of having been elsewhere at the time specified: as, he attempted to prove an alibi.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Law) The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove that he was in another place when the alleged act was committed

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove that he was in another place when the alleged act was committed; as, to set up an alibi; to prove an alibi
  • verb to provide an alibi for
  • verb to provide an excuse for

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb exonerate by means of an alibi
  • noun (law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question
  • noun a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, elsewhere, from alius, other (on the model of ibi, there); see al- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin alibi ("elsewhere, at another place").

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Examples

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