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The act of absolving can be seen as releasing someone from blame or sin, or "loosening" the hold that responsibility or guilt has on a person, which provides a hint about the word's origins. Absolve was adopted into Middle English in the 15th century from the Latin verb absolvere ("to release, acquit, finish, complete"), formed by combining the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with solvere, meaning "to loosen." Absolve also once had additional senses of "to finish or accomplish" and "to resolve or explain," but these are now obsolete. Solvere is also the ancestor of the English words solve, dissolve, resolve, solvent, and solution.
exculpate, absolve, exonerate, acquit, vindicate mean to free from a charge.
exculpate implies a clearing from blame or fault often in a matter of small importance.
absolve implies a release either from an obligation that binds the conscience or from the consequences of disobeying the law or committing a sin.
exonerate implies a complete clearance from an accusation or charge and from any attendant suspicion of blame or guilt.
acquit implies a formal decision in one's favor with respect to a definite charge.
vindicate may refer to things as well as persons that have been subjected to critical attack or imputation of guilt, weakness, or folly, and implies a clearing effected by proving the unfairness of such criticism or blame.
Examples of absolve in a Sentence
Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
Khan, who led the agency in bringing the lawsuit against Amazon, suggested that the FTC had absolved the company of its full culpability by agreeing to settle.
—Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 26 Sep. 2025
Sure, people blame the shooter to an extent, but in trying to paint one of America’s two predominant political cultures absolves the shooter of responsibility.
—Matt Fleming, Oc Register, 20 Sep. 2025
Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises jumped over 4% after India's market watchdog absolved Adani Group and its founder Gautam Adani of certain misconduct allegations made by Hindenburg Research.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2025
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“Absolve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolve. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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Legal Definition
absolve
transitive verb
In re Bruce R., 662 A.2d 107 (1995)Harbaugh v. Darr, 438 P.2d 74 (1968)
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