vindication
Americannoun
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the act of vindicating.
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the state of being vindicated.
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defense; excuse; justification.
Poverty was a vindication for his thievery.
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something that vindicates.
Subsequent events were her vindication.
noun
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the act of vindicating or the condition of being vindicated
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a means of exoneration from an accusation
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a fact, evidence, circumstance, etc, that serves to vindicate a theory or claim
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vindication
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin vindicātiōn-, stem of vindicātiō “defense, punishment, vengeance”; equivalent to vindicate + -ion
Explanation
Vindication is a sweet thing — when you get vindication, you've been proven right or justified in doing something. Everyone accused of a crime craves vindication. Vindication is good, but it can only come after something bad, like being accused of something you didn't do. If a teacher thought you cheated, but then announced to the whole class that you didn't, you're getting vindication. An accused criminal who is exonerated — cleared of the crime — gets vindication. If you believe something crazy — like that your underdog sports team could win a championship — and it comes true, that's a vindication of your beliefs.
Vocabulary lists containing vindication
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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The Kite Runner
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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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.
Mary Wollstonecraft, the foremost female thinker of the 18th-century Enlightenment, published “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” shortly before Austen began her writing career.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
In The Vindication of the Rights of Women, she described sexual politics that force women to express their reason as feelings and force men to express their feelings as reason.
From Slate • Apr. 27, 2025
Among the treatises being removed from classrooms, The Post’s Hannah Natanson reports: Mary Wollstonecraft’s 18th-century classic “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.”
From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2023
Vindication came with the release of Escapism late last year.
From BBC • Jan. 6, 2023
She also read extensively about women’s rights, including A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
