A single word for replacing the sentence.

Euphemism?

Rationalize?

Back-peddle

Sale that past me again.

Although rationalize retains its principal 19th-century senses “to make conformable to reason” and “to treat in a rational manner,” 20th-century psychology has given it the now more common meaning “to ascribe (one's acts, opinions, etc.) to causes that seem reasonable but actually are unrelated to the true, possibly unconscious causes.” Although the possibility of ambiguity exists, the context will usually make clear which sense is intended.

verb
1.
to justify (one's actions, esp discreditable actions, or beliefs) with plausible reasons, esp after the event
2.
(psychol) to indulge, often unchallenged, in excuses for or explanations of (behaviour about which one feels uncomfortable or guilty)

Flannel.

All slick salesmen are experts at flannel. A form of flattery/bullshit to get ones self out of a hole, or win over a client, etc.

Thinking about it, bullshit would do.

usery is correct. I think it (rationalize, rationalization) best fits what you're looking for.

Example: He hit me 4-5 times, but I didn't hit him back because I don't want to hurt anyone.

Truth: I'm a damn coward and am seething inside about getting my ass whupped. I would bash his brains out right now if I could do it without risk to myself.

Tom Waits, he ROCKS, eh!?

I don't care about any old music, I just needed 60 bicycle songs in a hurry to assuage the silly sausage crossword definition.

Mmm, 7 letters - Satisfy the silly sausage

copyright pending

assuage

How did you do that?

Something clicked in my head when I saw sausage. It's a hit or miss thing like anagrams, sometimes I get them straight away, otherwise I spend ages just trying to figure them out.

You could give me another load of clues and I probably wouldn't get any of them.

I bet you would.

No, I just got an anagram. I don't usually do cryptic crosswords, and when I do it's a team effort with someone explaining the clues to me.

Like the hand of god in the 86 world cup? How that was missed I wouldn't know.

Football has long lagged behind other sports where it comes to technology. They've only just introduced kit to see if the ball crosses the goal line, video replay for referees isn't even on the cards.

Personally the biggest problem is Sepp Blatter, until he is thrown out corruption will continue, like Qatar getting the World Cup.

Justify?

Hmm, first this...



Then this:



The posts after that speak for themselves.

Overall I think Ollie's is the best answer.