amnesty
Americannoun
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amnesties
plural
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a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.
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Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole.
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a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.
verb (used with object)
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amnesties,
present (3rd person singular)
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amnestied,
past participle, past
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amnestying
present participle
noun
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a general pardon, esp for offences against a government
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a period during which a law is suspended to allow offenders to admit their crime without fear of prosecution
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law a pardon granted by the Crown or Executive and effected by statute
verb
Usage
What does amnesty mean? Amnesty is a pardon for offenses against a government, especially before a trial or conviction for those offenses. Amnesty also means an overlooking of past offenses. In law, amnesty refers to an act of forgiveness for past offenses, often issued to a class of people. An amnesty is a pardon for criminal offenses. However, a pardon can only be given after someone is judged guilty. Amnesty can be given before a judgment is made. Amnesty often also refers to the process of allowing undocumented immigrants stay in the country rather than be deported. Sometimes, an amnesty is named after the thing being forgiven. For example, an amnesty that says as long as you give in your illegal guns to the government you won’t be prosecuted for illegal ownership would be called a gun amnesty or firearm amnesty. Example: The government offered an amnesty for anyone owning an illegal weapon if they handed the weapon in before the deadline.
Synonym Usage
See pardon.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amnestysimple
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amnestiessimple
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have amnestiedperfect
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has amnestiedperfect
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am amnestyingprogressive
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are amnestyingprogressive
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is amnestyingprogressive
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have been amnestyingperfect progressive
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has been amnestyingperfect progressive
Past
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amnestiedsimple
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had amnestiedperfect
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was amnestyingprogressive
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were amnestyingprogressive
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had been amnestyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of amnesty
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French amnestie, or directly from Latin amnēstia, from Greek amnēstía “oblivion,” equivalent to ámnēst(os) “forgetting” (from a- negative prefix + mnēs- “remember” + -tos verbal adjective suffix) + -ia noun suffix; see a- 6, -y 3
Explanation
Amnesty means an official pardon, often for a large group of people. When political prisoners receive amnesty, all legal records of their convictions are officially eliminated. Amnesty sounds a little like "amnesia," and that's because in its more specific sense amnesty means "forgetting." The government will essentially forget about any crimes that may have been committed. As part of a truce, amnesty can be granted to opposition forces, and if an incarcerated person gets amnesty, they're set free.
Vocabulary lists containing amnesty
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Vocabulary from the Third and Final Presidential Debate, October 19, 2016
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This Week in Words: January 20 - 26, 2018
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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:
Concord Public Library declared a year-long amnesty on overdue fines from 1 September 2026, with plans to evaluate the effects of a "fine-free library".
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
He applied for amnesty then, and received a temporary green card, his lawyer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Turkish lawmakers on Monday voted through a bill offering limited amnesty for Kurdish PKK militants, a key step in the peace process that seeks to end decades of deadly violence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The legislation, part of efforts to end decades of deadly fighting, would allow some PKK members to return to civilian life under certain conditions but falls short of offering a general amnesty.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
The attempted revolution was ended by force and false promises of amnesty.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
The Daily Mirror meanwhile celebrates that knife amnesties mean there are "40 knives a day off our streets".
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The junta frequently grants prison amnesties on public holidays, and Monday's raft of notices also announced the release of more than 2,800 other prisoners and 10 jailed foreign nationals -- without detailing their offences.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
Argentina has announced dozens of tax amnesties over the years, only for the rules to be reversed by subsequent governments, which sometimes chase down Argentines for the assets and cash they just declared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
Additionally, government amnesties for shoddy construction allowed transgressors to pay fines rather than tear down or fix dangerous buildings.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
I pledge myself to produce, in the history of the Mogul empire, a series of pardons and amnesties for rebellions, from its earliest establishments, and in its most distant provinces.
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 11 (of 12) by Edmund Burke
Running as an outsider, Chavez, amnestied from prison only four years earlier, won the presidency, though with a total turnout of just 36%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
When she and Tolokonnikova are amnestied by Putin, Alyokhina thinks, “Everyone needed this amnesty but me.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2017
He questioned why imprisoned rebels who were amnestied six months ago remain in jail and complained about the state of the Mariana Paez demobilization camp where the ceremony was taking place.
From Time ● Jun. 27, 2017
Only lesser crimes such as rebellion will be amnestied.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 24, 2015
Mc Visited by Mackenzie, 288; addresses meetings, 328; amnestied, 474.
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
Kobe Bryant will most likely return when he is healthy, unless one believes that this Lakers organization would risk the backlash involved in amnestying him, but nobody knows when that will be.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2013
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.
