| gen. |
be excused from (FROM A DUTY to allow someone not to do something that they are supposed to do. be excused from (doing) something: Can I be excused from swimming today? I have a cold. LDOCE. I asked the teacher if I could be excused from (= allowed not to do) hockey practice as my knee still hurt. CALD. Alexander Demidov); need not (1 (chiefly Britain, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) Doesn't have to, don't have to. My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case. 2 (auxiliary, indicating inadvisability) Ought not to. Want ads for what little manual labor there was frequently had the stipulation INNA, an acronym for Italians and Irish Need Not Apply. Usage notes: In one sense used to show that something is not necessary, indicating non-obligation or non-inevitability. In another sense used to indicate that something should not be done because it is futile. Can be used in either sense without inflectional change for singular and plural subjects alike. WT Alexander Demidov) |
