Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To free from blame.
  • transitive verb To free from a responsibility, obligation, or task.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Exonerated; freed.
  • To unload; disburden.
  • To ease (one's self) at stool.
  • To relieve, as of a charge or of blame resting on one; clear of something that lies upon the character as an imputation: as, to exonerate one from blame, or from an accusation of crime.
  • To relieve of, as an obligation, debt, or duty; discharge of responsibility or liability: as, a bail exonerates himself by producing his principal in court.
  • Synonyms To exculpate, absolve, acquit, justify, vindicate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To unload; to disburden; to discharge.
  • transitive verb To relieve, in a moral sense, as of a charge, obligation, or load of blame resting on one; to clear of something that lies upon oppresses one, as an accusation or imputation.
  • transitive verb To discharge from duty or obligation, as a bail.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To relieve (someone or something) of a load; to unburden (a load).
  • verb obsolete, reflexive Of a body of water, to discharge (oneself), empty oneself.
  • verb transitive To free from an obligation, responsibility or task.
  • verb transitive To free from accusation or blame.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb pronounce not guilty of criminal charges

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English exoneraten, from Latin exonerāre, exonerāt-, to free from a burden : ex-, ex- + onus, oner-, burden.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the participle stem of Latin exonerāre.

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Examples

  • If the bomb had exploded, how many of us then would be able to bear the fury of the backlash, which would fall not only on Yemen or "al-Qaeda" but equally if not more so on anyone attempting to "exonerate" them by suggesting "outrageous conspiracy theories" such as the possibility of an inside job?

    Printing: Transparent Underpants: MITOP Again 2010

  • If the bomb had exploded, how many of us then would be able to bear the fury of the backlash, which would fall not only on Yemen or "al-Qaeda" but equally if not more so on anyone attempting to "exonerate" them by suggesting "outrageous conspiracy theories" such as the possibility of an inside job?

    Transparent Underpants: MITOP Again 2010

  • I don't want to "exonerate" these characters from their pasts, or even exonerate those who created them.

    Boing Boing: May 4, 2003 - May 10, 2003 Archives 2003

  • The previous chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission, during whose tenure an executive spent $400,000 on travel and meals in three years, wants the Ontario government to make public the results of past investigations that "exonerate" the agency.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed ANTHONY REINHART 2010

  • In this context, "exonerate" means the committee found that Professor Jones did no wrong.

    Libertarian Blog Place Various Libertarian Bloggers 2010

  • He also questioned the authenticity of a Gujarat-based government forensic laboratory's report that, he said, helped to "exonerate" Dhumal in the audio CD controversy.

    PunjabNewsline News 2010

  • He also questioned the authenticity of a Gujarat-based government forensic laboratory's report that, he said, helped to "exonerate" Dhumal in the audio CD controversy.

    PunjabNewsline News 2010

  • The previous chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission, during whose tenure an executive spent $400,000 on travel and meals in three years, wants the Ontario government to make public the results of past investigations that "exonerate" the agency.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed ANTHONY REINHART 2010

  • It's also unclear whether such testimony would "exonerate" the defendants, Jones wrote.

    New Orleans Saints Central 2010

  • The contest on March 10 in Bedford was closely fought with the final result going down to the spelling equivalent of a penalty shoot-out between St Peter's and Oundle with the latter finally losing the match on 'exonerate'.

    Peterborough Today - News Feed 2010

Comments

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  • Grisham narrates the events leading up to the 1982 rape and murder of a young cocktail waitress with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity, moving on to astonishment at the prosecution's use of deceit and false testimony to convict Williamson and Fritz and, eventually, elation at the exoneration of the two innocent men - Summary of The Innocent Man

    July 3, 2009

  • This word was used some in Star Trek.

    June 15, 2012