absolve
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free from guilt or blame or their consequences.
The court absolved her of guilt in his death.
- Antonyms:
- blame
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to set free or release, as from some duty, obligation, or responsibility (usually followed byfrom ).
to be absolved from one's oath.
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to grant pardon for.
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Ecclesiastical.
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to grant or pronounce remission of sins to.
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to remit (a sin) by absolution.
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to declare (censure, as excommunication) removed.
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verb
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(usually foll by from) to release from blame, sin, punishment, obligation, or responsibility
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to pronounce not guilty; acquit; pardon
Synonym Usage
Absolve, acquit, exonerate all mean to free from blame. Absolve is a general word for this idea. To acquit is to release from a specific and usually formal accusation: The court must acquit the accused if there is not enough evidence of guilt. To exonerate is to consider a person clear of blame or consequences for an act (even when the act is admitted), or to justify the person for having done it: to be exonerated for a crime committed in self-defense.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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absolvesimple
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absolvessimple
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have absolvedperfect
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has absolvedperfect
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am absolvingprogressive
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are absolvingprogressive
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is absolvingprogressive
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have been absolvingperfect progressive
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has been absolvingperfect progressive
Past
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absolvedsimple
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had absolvedperfect
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was absolvingprogressive
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were absolvingprogressive
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had been absolvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of absolve
1525–35; < Latin absolvere, equivalent to ab- ab- + solvere to loosen; see solve
Explanation
To be absolved is to be let off the hook, to be set free from a certain obligation or to be forgiven for a wrongdoing. The Church may absolve you of your sins, but that won't absolve you of the need to attend mass. The Latin absolvere, which means "to set free," is the root of the word absolve. In the religious sense, to be absolved means to be truly forgiven in the eyes of the Lord, which must feel like being set free. In a more mundane everyday usage, absolve can be used to describe being let off the hook. For instance, putting a campaign poster in your window does not absolve you of the responsibility to vote.
Vocabulary lists containing absolve
The Declaration of Independence
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Romeo and Juliet
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"The Declaration of Independence," Vocabulary from the historical document
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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:
“Regardless of how competent or negligent L.A. Fire was in responding, it does not absolve his guilt in starting the initial fire,” Essayli told KFI on Friday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Rather than developing parallel systems that may make markets less efficient and transparent and absolve companies of the responsibility of managing risks, we need strengthened implementation of proven frameworks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
However, the Nuremberg tribunals after World War II established in international law that obeying an unlawful order does not absolve an individual of responsibility for atrocities.
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2025
Tom Brandis is a rumpled, pudgy wreck, an ex-priest who no longer believes in God and can’t absolve his son of a sin that shattered their family.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2025
“Do you really think that you can absolve yourself of guilt by pretending to be someone else? I don’t like you, Fortiori. Do you know that? I don’t like you at all.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Martinique official Serge Letchimy hailed a vote that he said had come "to shatter a system that tramples on the truth, absolves the guilty, and scorns the victims".
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
"An order that absolves a man of such a crime, to say it's not a crime, is the darkest hour in our legal system," she told the BBC.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
“The ruling was not for lack of evidence, but rather on procedural jurisdictional grounds. It by no means absolves Lizzo of the egregious claims that occurred on her watch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2024
He has argued that a disclaimer on his financial statements absolves him of any culpability and that some of his assets are worth far more than what’s listed on the documents.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
Saying kaddish and sitting shiva, that absolves them of any responsibility for you.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
“The beauty of this narrative was that it not only absolved Jefferson and his fellow slaveholders of their sins; it absolved America as a whole,” Mr. Rasenberger writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
For Kevin Farmer, executive secretary of the Codrington Trust in Barbados, the argument that the Church absolved itself by eventually supporting abolition is deeply flawed.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
In March, a California jury found Musk liable for some of the investors’ losses, but absolved him of defrauding them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
Two official inquiries then took place which absolved MI5 and its officers of deliberate wrongdoing, claiming the false evidence was down to mistakes and poor memories.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025
“If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Moolenaar redeemed Suozzi, absolving him of any New York weirdness.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
As you suggested, this is often referred to as an “act of God” — absolving Adam of any negligence/responsibility.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
But that may have been the actor’s way of absolving himself of his monstrous off-screen behavior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
But he feared a ban would easily be overcome by tech-savvy teens, at the same time absolving parents of responsibility.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
I walk away from her, guilt on my hands, absolving myself: I’m a good person.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
