vindicate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like.
to vindicate someone's honor.
- Synonyms:
- exonerate
-
to afford justification for; justify.
Subsequent events vindicated his policy.
-
to uphold or justify by argument or evidence.
to vindicate a claim.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate
-
to assert, maintain, or defend (a right, cause, etc.) against opposition.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate
-
to claim for oneself or another.
-
Roman and Civil Law. to regain possession, under claim of title of property through legal procedure, or to assert one's right to possession.
-
to get revenge for; avenge.
-
Obsolete. to deliver from; liberate.
-
Obsolete. to punish.
verb
-
to clear from guilt, accusation, blame, etc, as by evidence or argument
-
to provide justification for
his promotion vindicated his unconventional attitude
-
to uphold, maintain, or defend (a cause, etc)
to vindicate a claim
-
Roman law to bring an action to regain possession of (property) under claim of legal title
-
rare to claim, as for oneself or another
-
obsolete to take revenge on or for; punish
-
obsolete to set free
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vindicate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin vindicātus (past participle of vindicāre “to lay legal claim to (property); to free (someone) from servitude (by claiming him as free); to protect, avenge, punish),“ equivalent to vindic- (stem of vindex “claimant, protector, avenger”) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother fesses up. Vindicate derives from the Latin vindicatus, which is the past tense of vindicare, meaning "lay claim to" or "avenge." When a physicist proves a theory that his colleagues derided, he vindicates it. When a lawyer clears her client's name in a trial, she vindicates him. Machiavelli argued that the results he got vindicated his tactics — in other words, the ends justified the means.
Vocabulary lists containing vindicate
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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.
Vindicate Thine own cause by delivering Thine own servant.'
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes by Maclaren, Alexander
Vindicate, vin′di-kāt, v.t. to lay claim to: to defend: to maintain by force.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
If some of the Members of our Late Convocation shou'd be accused for Moderation, I believe it might be no Difficult task to Vindicate them.
From The Lay-Man's Sermon upon the Late Storm Held forth at an Honest Coffee-House-Conventicle by Defoe, Daniel
Vindicate your respect for your fathers' claims, by extending the same immunities to the prisoners at the bar, whose situation is analogous to that of our fathers.
From Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York by Warburton, A. F.
Pope, with an echo of the Miltonic phrase, proposes to Vindicate the ways of God to man.
From Alexander Pope English Men of Letters Series by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
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.
