alibi

UK: /ˈælɪbaɪ/ US: /ˈæləˌbaɪ/ ,(al′ə bī′)

Inflections of 'alibi' (n): npl: alibis

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

al•i•bi /ˈæləˌbaɪ/   n. [countable] , pl. -bis. 

1. Law the claim by an accused person of having been elsewhere when an offense was committed:
   He has a good alibi for the night of the murder.
2. an excuse, esp. to avoid blame:
   The boss doesn't want alibis.
3. a person used as one's excuse:
   Her lover turned out to be her alibi.

See -ali-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

al•i•bi  (al′ə bī′), n., pl. -bis, v. 
n. 

1. Law the defense by an accused person of having been elsewhere at the time an alleged offense was committed.
2. an excuse, esp. to avoid blame.
3. a person used as one's excuse:
   My sick grandmother was my alibi for missing school.

v.i. 

4. Informal Terms, Pronouns to give an excuse;
   offer a defense:
   to alibi for being late.

v.t. 

5. Informal Terms, Pronouns
   • to provide an alibi for (someone):
     He alibied his friend out of a fix.
   • to make or find (one's way) by using alibis:
     to alibi one's way out of work.

• Latin alibī (adverb, adverbial): in or at another place
• 1720–30

Synonyms

• 2. explanation, reason, justification.

Usage

Alibi in Latin is an adverb meaning "in or at another place.'' Its earliest English uses, in the 18th century, are in legal contexts, both as an adverb and as a noun meaning "a plea of having been elsewhere.'' The extended noun senses "excuse'' and "person used as one's excuse'' developed in the 20th century in the United States and occur in all but the most formal writing. As a verb alibi occurs mainly in informal use.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

alibi / ˈælɪˌbaɪ/ noun ( -bis)

1. a defence by an accused person that he or she was elsewhere at the time the crime in question was committed
2. the evidence given to prove this
3. an excuse

verb (alibis, alibiing, alibied)

1. (transitive) to provide with an alibi

Etymology: 18th Century: from Latin alibī elsewhere, from alius other + -bī as in ubī where