exculpate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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exculpationnoun
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exculpableadjective
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exculpatoryadjective
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unexculpableadjective
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unexculpatedadjective
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nonexculpableadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exculpatesimple
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exculpatessimple
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have exculpatedperfect
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has exculpatedperfect
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am exculpatingprogressive
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are exculpatingprogressive
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is exculpatingprogressive
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have been exculpatingperfect progressive
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has been exculpatingperfect progressive
Past
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exculpatedsimple
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had exculpatedperfect
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was exculpatingprogressive
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were exculpatingprogressive
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had been exculpatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exculpate
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin exculpātus “freed from blame,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + culpātus “blamed” (past participle of culpāre; see culpable)
Explanation
To exculpate means to find someone not guilty of criminal charges. If you've been wrongly accused of robbery, you'd better hope a judge will exculpate you, unless you want to go to jail because you've heard prison food is amazing. Exculpate comes from two Latin words: ex-, meaning "from," and culpa, meaning "blame." Exculpate is similar in meaning to exonerate. When you exonerate someone, you clear a person of an accusation and any suspicion that goes along with it. Exculpate usually refers more directly to clearing the charges against someone. So if that judge exculpates you from the robbery charge, everyone in town might still think you did it. Get him to exculpate and exonerate you.
Vocabulary lists containing exculpate
Frankenstein
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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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 documentary includes an interview with a whistleblower who claimed bosses told him to doctor evidence to exculpate the agency in the death of Hernández Rojas.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2026
Nobody doubts that a clever jurist with a dictionary and a truckload of motivated reasoning can use the law to exculpate himself and inculpate others.
From Slate • Jun. 26, 2023
A trio of new evidence helped exculpate Ian Schweitzer.
From Washington Times • Jan. 25, 2023
“It does not vary either to exculpate on the basis of the actor’s unusual callousness or to condemn for outraging an excessively delicate relative of the deceased,” Rennie wrote, citing the Model Penal Code.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2022
The thing to do would be to warn the guilty person to escape in time, and then to exculpate oneself by making known the truth.
From Moral Theology A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities by Callan, Charles Jerome
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.
