alibi

See also: Alibi and álibi

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī (“elsewhere, at another place”, adverb).

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ə.baɪ/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

alibi (plural alibis)

(law) The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
to set up an alibi
to prove an alibi
- 1988, Criminal Law Deskbook, →ISBN:
  Alibi is different from all of the other defenses . . . it is based upon the premise that the defendant is truly innocent.
(sometimes proscribed) An excuse, especially one used to avoid responsibility or blame.

Usage notes

A very good alibi might be described e.g. as perfect, watertight, airtight, solid or iron-clad.
Some argue this cannot be used in the non-legal sense of "an explanation or excuse to avoid blame or justify action."

Derived terms

alibi copy
Alibi Ike

Translations

criminal legal defense

Arabic: دَفْع بِالْغَائِبَة‎ m (dafʕ bi-l-ḡāʔiba)
Armenian: ալիբի (hy) (alibi), այլուրեքություն (hy) (aylurekʿutʿyun)
Belarusian: а́лібі n (álibi)
Catalan: coartada
Chinese:
Mandarin: 不在場證明／不在场证明 (bùzàichǎng zhèngmíng)
Czech: alibi (cs) n
Danish: alibi (da)
Dutch: alibi (nl) n
Esperanto: alibio
Finnish: alibi (fi)
French: alibi (fr) m
German: Alibi (de) n
Greek: άλλοθι (el) n (állothi)
Hungarian: alibi (hu)
Icelandic: fjarvistarsönnun (is) f
Indonesian: alibi (id)
Italian: alibi (it) m
Japanese: アリバイ (ja) (aribai), 現場不在証明 (げんじょうふざいしょうめい, genjōfuzaishōmei)
Kannada: ಅಲಿಬಿ (alibi)
Korean: 알리바이 (ko) (allibai), 알리비 (allibi)
Norwegian: alibi (no)
Polish: alibi (pl) n
Portuguese: álibi (pt) m
Russian: а́либи (ru) n (álibi)
Serbo-Croatian: alibi m
Slovak: alibi n
Spanish: coartada (es) f
Swedish: alibi (sv)

excuse

Chinese:
Mandarin: 藉口／借口 (zh) (jièkǒu)
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: veruke (fi)
German: Alibi (de) n, Rechtfertigung (de) f, Ausrede (de) f, Entschuldigung (de) f
Greek: άλλοθι (el) n (állothi), δικαιολογία (el) f (dikaiología)
Italian: alibi (it) m
Polish: alibi (pl) n
Portuguese: desculpa (pt) f
Spanish: excusa (es) f

Verb

alibi (third-person singular simple present alibis or alibies, present participle alibiing, simple past and past participle alibied)

To provide an alibi for.
To provide an excuse for.

Anagrams

baili

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈaː.liˌbi/
Audio (file)
Hyphenation: ali‧bi

Noun

alibi n or m (plural alibi's, diminutive alibietje n)

alibi

Descendants

→ Indonesian: alibi

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɑlibi/, [ˈɑlibi]
Rhymes: -ɑlibi
Syllabification^(key): a‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi

alibi

Declension

Inflection of alibi (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		alibi	alibit
genitive		alibin	alibien
partitive		alibia	alibeja
illative		alibiin	alibeihin
		singular	plural
nominative		alibi	alibit
accusative	nom.	alibi	alibit
accusative	gen.	alibin	alibit
genitive		alibin	alibien
partitive		alibia	alibeja
inessive		alibissa	alibeissa
elative		alibista	alibeista
illative		alibiin	alibeihin
adessive		alibilla	alibeilla
ablative		alibilta	alibeilta
allative		alibille	alibeille
essive		alibina	alibeina
translative		alibiksi	alibeiksi
instructive		—	alibein
abessive		alibitta	alibeitta
comitative		—	alibeineen

Possessive forms of alibi (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	alibini	alibimme
2nd person	alibisi	alibinne
3rd person	alibinsa

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /a.li.bi/
Audio (file)

Noun

alibi m (plural alibis)

alibi

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch alibi, from Latin alibī (“elsewhere, at another place”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈali.bi]
Hyphenation: ali‧bi

Noun

alibi (first-person possessive alibiku, second-person possessive alibimu, third-person possessive alibinya)

alibi:
1. (law) the plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
2. (slang) excuse
  Synonym: alasan

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.bi/
Rhymes: -alibi
Hyphenation: à‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi m (invariable)

alibi

Anagrams

Libia, abili, bilia

Latin

Alternative forms

aliubi (rare)

Etymology

From alius (“other, another”) + ibī.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.biː/, [ˈälʲɪbiː]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.bi/, [ˈäːlibi]

Adverb

alibī (not comparable)

elsewhere, somewhere else

Related terms

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	interrogative	indefinite	(medial) demonstrative	proximal demonstrative	distal demonstrative	relative	indefinite relative	identity	other
basic	quis, quī	quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quisque, quisquam, aliquisquam, quispiam, ūllus	is, iste, istic	hic	ille, illic	quī	quisquis, quīcumque	ipse, īdem	alter, alius
dual	uter	alteruter, uterque				uter	utercumque
number	quot	aliquot	tot			quot	quotquot, quotcumque	totidem
order	quotus		totus			quotus	quotuscumque
quantity	quam	aliquam	tam			quam	†quamquam	†tamen, †tandem
size	quantus	aliquantus	tantus			quantus	quantuscumque	tantusdem
quality	quālis	aliquālis	tālis			quālis	quālis, quāliscumque
manner	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utique, quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō	ita, sic, eō/istō modō	hōc modō	illō modō	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque	item, itidem	aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō
method, path, place	quā	aliquā, quāque	eā, istāc	hāc	illāc	quā	quāquā, quācumque	eādem	aliā
place	ubi	alicubi, ubique, usquam, uspiam	ibi, istic	hīc	illīc	ubi	ubiubi, ubicumque	ibidem	alibī, aliās
source	unde	alicunde, undeunde	inde, istinc	hinc	illinc	unde	undecumque	indidem	aliunde
destination	quō, quōrsum	aliquō, quōquam, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum	eō, istūc, °istōrsum	hūc, °hōrsum	illūc, °illōrsum	quō	quōquō, quōcumque	eōdem	aliō, aliorsum
time	quandō	quondam, aliquandō, quandōque, umquam	tum, tunc	num, nunc	ōlim	cum, quandō	cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque	simul	aliās
exact time	quota hōra		ea/ista hōra	hac hōra	illa hōra	quota hōra	quotacumque hōra	eadem hōra	altera/alia hōra
repetition	quotiēns	aliquotiēns	totiēns			quotiēns	quotiēnscumque
multiplication	quotuplex		totuplex			quotuplex
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimulated ° Rare

Descendants

→ English: alibi
→ Danish: alibi
→ Dutch: alibi
→ Finnish: alibi
→ French: alibi
→ German: Alibi
→ Italian: alibi
→ Norwegian: alibi
→ Polish: alibi (learned)
→ Portuguese: álibi
→ Romanian: alibi, aiurea
→ Russian: а́либи (álibi)
→ Swedish: alibi

References

“alibi”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“alibi”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
alibi in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin alibī.[1][2] First attested in 1802.[3][4]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /aˈli.bi/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ibi
Syllabification: a‧li‧bi

Noun

alibi n

(law) alibi (plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed)
(literary) alibi (excuse, especially one used to avoid responsibility or blame)

Derived terms

nouns

alibista
alibizm

Collocations

wygodne alibi ― a convenient alibi
niezbite alibi ― an irrefutable alibi
żelazne alibi ― an iron-clad/cast-iron alibi
swoiste alibi ― a peculiar alibi
stuprocentowe alibi ― an airtight alibi
murowane alibi ― a rock-solid alibi
wiarygodne alibi ― a credible alibi
mocne alibi ― a strong alibi
fałszywe alibi ― a false/fake alibi
doskonałe alibi ― a perfect alibi
świetne alibi ― a great alibi
moralne alibi ― a moral alibi
kiepskie alibi ― a lousy/flimsy alibi
dobre alibi ― a good alibi
znakomite alibi ― a great alibi
sensowne alibi ― a sensible/logical alibi
polityczne alibi ― a political alibi
alibi oskarżonego/oskarżonej ― the accused's alibi
mieć alibi ― to have alibi
zapewnić/dostarczać/dostarczyć/podać alibi ― to provide an alibi
szukać alibi ― to look for an alibi
sprawdzać/sprawdzić alibi ― to verify/check an alibi
stanowić alibi ― to be alibi
stwarzać/stworzyć alibi ― to craft an alibi
przedstawiać/przedstawić alibi ― to present an alibi
obalić alibi ― to bust/crack/disprove an alibi
dawać/dać alibi ― to give alibi
potwierdzić alibi ― to confirm/corroborate alibi
wymyślić alibi ― to come up with/think up/concoct an alibi
stracić alibi ― to lose an alibi
potrzebować alibi ― to need an alibi
znaleźć alibi ― to find an alibi
uzyskać alibi ― to get an alibi

References

Mirosław Bańko; Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “alibi”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
Gazeta Korrespondenta Warszawskiego y Zagranicznego‎, issue 74, 1802, page 944
alibi in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Pęzik, Piotr; Przepiórkowski, A.; Bańko, M.; Górski, R.; Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B (2012) Wyszukiwarka PELCRA dla danych NKJP. Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego [National Polish Language Corpus, PELCRA search engine]‎, Wydawnictwo PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French alibi.

Noun

alibi n (plural alibiuri)

alibi

Declension

Declension of alibi

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) alibi	alibiul	(niște) alibiuri	alibiurile
genitive/dative	(unui) alibi	alibiului	(unor) alibiuri	alibiurilor
vocative	alibiule		alibiurilor

Rukai

Noun

alibi

stone tiles of a roof

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

àlībi m (Cyrillic spelling а̀лӣби)

alibi

Declension

Declension of alibi

	singular	plural
nominative	alibi	alibiji
genitive	alibija	alibija
dative	alibiju	alibijima
accusative	alibi	alibije
vocative	alibi	alibiji
locative	alibiju	alibijima
instrumental	alibijem	alibijima

Slovak

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alibī.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈalibi/

Noun

alibi n

alibi

Declension

Indeclinable.

alibi

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

See also

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Descendants

Finnish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Further reading

Indonesian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Anagrams

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

Related terms

Descendants

References

Polish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Collocations

References

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Rukai

Noun

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

Declension

Slovak

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Further reading