to deflect blame from oneself with a dishonest story; to make excuses

to defend oneself; to rebut a charge

to reply (to an accusation); to defend one's dissertation

to counter accusations; to protest; to remonstrate; to retort; to plead; to demur; a plea (of not guilty); a defense (against an allegation); to enter a plea to a charge (in a law court)

to dispute; to debate; to argue; to discuss

variant of 服辯|服辩[fu2 bian4]

to explain the facts; to defend against an accusation

to analyze; to explain

eloquent; good at arguing

argumentative; quarrelsome

to argue skillfully or plausibly; rhetoric

to try to make one's case using false arguments

the prosecution and the defense (law)

written confession; letter of repentance

to argue

specious arguments; sophistry

eloquent; oratory; rhetoric

peremptory; not to be denied; not brooking argument

plea of not guilty

(idiom) (of sb unfairly accused) to have all one's protestations fall on deaf ears; to be unable to convince sb of one's innocence

see 百口莫辯|百口莫辩[bai3 kou3 mo4 bian4]

glib of tongue (idiom); eloquent

facts speak louder than words (idiom)