amnesty
Americannoun
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a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.
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Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole.
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a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a general pardon, esp for offences against a government
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a period during which a law is suspended to allow offenders to admit their crime without fear of prosecution
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law a pardon granted by the Crown or Executive and effected by statute
verb
Usage
What does amnesty mean? Amnesty is a pardon for offenses against a government, especially before a trial or conviction for those offenses. Amnesty also means an overlooking of past offenses. In law, amnesty refers to an act of forgiveness for past offenses, often issued to a class of people. An amnesty is a pardon for criminal offenses. However, a pardon can only be given after someone is judged guilty. Amnesty can be given before a judgment is made. Amnesty often also refers to the process of allowing undocumented immigrants stay in the country rather than be deported. Sometimes, an amnesty is named after the thing being forgiven. For example, an amnesty that says as long as you give in your illegal guns to the government you won’t be prosecuted for illegal ownership would be called a gun amnesty or firearm amnesty. Example: The government offered an amnesty for anyone owning an illegal weapon if they handed the weapon in before the deadline.
Synonym Usage
See pardon.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amnestysimple
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amnestiessimple
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have amnestiedperfect
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has amnestiedperfect
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am amnestyingprogressive
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are amnestyingprogressive
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is amnestyingprogressive
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have been amnestyingperfect progressive
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has been amnestyingperfect progressive
Past
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amnestiedsimple
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had amnestiedperfect
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was amnestyingprogressive
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were amnestyingprogressive
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had been amnestyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of amnesty
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French amnestie, or directly from Latin amnēstia, from Greek amnēstía “oblivion,” equivalent to ámnēst(os) “forgetting” (from a- negative prefix + mnēs- “remember” + -tos verbal adjective suffix) + -ia noun suffix; see a- 6, -y 3
Explanation
Amnesty means an official pardon, often for a large group of people. When political prisoners receive amnesty, all legal records of their convictions are officially eliminated. Amnesty sounds a little like "amnesia," and that's because in its more specific sense amnesty means "forgetting." The government will essentially forget about any crimes that may have been committed. As part of a truce, amnesty can be granted to opposition forces, and if an incarcerated person gets amnesty, they're set free.
Vocabulary lists containing amnesty
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Vocabulary from the Third and Final Presidential Debate, October 19, 2016
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This Week in Words: January 20 - 26, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During the last amnesty in 2006, people handed over more than 12,500 blades to police without facing criminal charges - they included machetes, swords, meat cleavers, bayonets and axes.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
“I support a system that rewards those who follow the rules and wait their turn, not one that gives a fast pass or grants amnesty to those who cut in line,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Nearly 500 political prisoners have been released under the amnesty law brought in by the country's National Assembly, prisoner rights group Foro Penal says, but many more are thought to still be in jail.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
Servicemen accused of plotting against the state are being exempted from an amnesty law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
He said he put it in his father’s name because the older man had become a legal resident after the 1986 amnesty.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
"Of course we would consider the likes of knife amnesties if that is something the police and other partners feel is helpful," he told the programme.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
The junta frequently grants prison amnesties on public holidays, and Monday's raft of notices also announced the release of more than 2,800 other prisoners and 10 jailed foreign nationals -- without detailing their offences.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
Argentina has announced dozens of tax amnesties over the years, only for the rules to be reversed by subsequent governments, which sometimes chase down Argentines for the assets and cash they just declared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
However, authorities going after participants of previous tax amnesties was an example of the lack of legal certainty Ganjar looked to resolve, he said, while threatening to replace the non-performers among tax officials.
From Reuters ● Oct. 24, 2023
Then he had vague news of different amnesties.
From The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Jordan, Charlotte Brewster
Running as an outsider, Chavez, amnestied from prison only four years earlier, won the presidency, though with a total turnout of just 36%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
Dozens of those arrested in the crackdown have recently been amnestied or freed from pre-trial detention, though rights groups say thousands remain jailed.
From Reuters ● Jul. 6, 2022
When she and Tolokonnikova are amnestied by Putin, Alyokhina thinks, “Everyone needed this amnesty but me.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2017
There had been a parallel thaw within the Soviet Union, where Stalin’s successors had amnestied hundreds of thousands of political prisoners and Khrushchev had denounced Stalin’s crimes.
From Time ● Oct. 16, 2015
They were now amnestied, and three months later, March 8, they were admitted to their seats.
From Lectures on the French Revolution by Figgis, John Neville
Kobe Bryant will most likely return when he is healthy, unless one believes that this Lakers organization would risk the backlash involved in amnestying him, but nobody knows when that will be.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2013
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
