acquitted
Americanadjective
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of acquitted
Explanation
An acquitted defendant is off the hook. If you're on trial for a crime and you're found "not guilty," then you're acquitted and you can go free. When you have been labeled acquitted, that means the jury has found you not guilty of the crime and legally blameless. The word gained notoriety in the highly publicized 1995 trial of the former football star O. J. Simpson, accused of murdering his wife and her friend. Simpson’s attorney’s mantra to the jury was "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit," referring to a glove connected to the murder.
Vocabulary lists containing acquitted
The Outsiders
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This Week In Words: September 28–October 4, 2019
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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
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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.
But he acquitted himself well enough in Lithuania to get back into the good graces of his seniors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Gox, he was acquitted of embezzlement by a Japanese court but found guilty of falsifying data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
A Malaysian teenage boy charged with the high-profile murder of a female schoolmate has been acquitted, with the judge finding the boy was mentally unsound during the incident.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The defense had stacked the jury with a demographic they suspected would be sympathetic to Flynn — older women — and he was acquitted, amid courtroom cheers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
State courts overturned his conviction and death sentence, and he was subsequently acquitted of all charges and released.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
