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.
The trio were acquitted by a judge at Belfast Crown Court following a non-jury trial that did not sit continuously and lasted over two years due to its legal complexity.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Eventually an all-white jury acquitted Henry Sweet; charges against the others were dropped.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Also cleared by the jury were Alison-Madueke's older brother Doye Agama, 69, an archbishop at a Pentecostal church in Manchester, who was acquitted of conspiracy to commit bribery.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
Before Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, he and Trump were old friends.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
Yet he acquitted himself well, unhorsing Horas Redwyne in his first joust and one of the Freys in his second.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
