exculpate

American  

[ek-skuhl-peyt, ik-skuhl-peyt] / ˈɛk skʌlˌpeɪt, ɪkˈskʌl peɪt /

verb (used with object)

exculpated, exculpating

1. to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate.

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exculpate British  

/ ɪkˈskʌlpəbəl, ɪkˈskʌlpeɪt, ˈɛkskʌlˌpeɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to free from blame or guilt; vindicate or exonerate

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Other Word Forms

• exculpable
  adjective
• exculpation
  noun
• exculpatory
  adjective
• nonexculpable
  adverb
• unexculpable
  adjective
• unexculpated
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

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

He devises a daring, sometimes distracting but ultimately inspired format by saving his commentary for footnotes that contextualize, teasingly contradict and occasionally exculpate Rodgers from her unsparing self-assessments.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2022

“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

But “the photos are not proof of my father being in Sobibor and may even exculpate him once forensically examined.”

From Washington Times • Jan. 28, 2020

The change of plan explains, although it may not exculpate, the formlessness and loose construction of the work, its extremes of realistic detail and poetic allegory.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various