Synonyms

vindicate

American

[vin-di-keyt] / ˈvɪn dɪˌkeɪt /

verb (used with object)

to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like.

to vindicate someone's honor.

Synonyms:

exonerate
to afford justification for; justify.

Subsequent events vindicated his policy.
to uphold or justify by argument or evidence.

to vindicate a claim.

Synonyms:

substantiate
to assert, maintain, or defend (a right, cause, etc.) against opposition.

Synonyms:

substantiate
to claim for oneself or another.
Roman and Civil Law. to regain possession, under claim of title of property through legal procedure, or to assert one's right to possession.
to get revenge for; avenge.
Obsolete. to deliver from; liberate.
Obsolete. to punish.

vindicate British

/ ˈvɪndɪˌkeɪt /

verb

to clear from guilt, accusation, blame, etc, as by evidence or argument
to provide justification for

his promotion vindicated his unconventional attitude
to uphold, maintain, or defend (a cause, etc)

to vindicate a claim
Roman law to bring an action to regain possession of (property) under claim of legal title
rare to claim, as for oneself or another
obsolete to take revenge on or for; punish
obsolete to set free

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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Etymology

Origin of vindicate

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin vindicātus (past participle of vindicāre “to lay legal claim to (property); to free (someone) from servitude (by claiming him as free); to protect, avenge, punish),“ equivalent to vindic- (stem of vindex “claimant, protector, avenger”) + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother fesses up. Vindicate derives from the Latin vindicatus, which is the past tense of vindicare, meaning "lay claim to" or "avenge." When a physicist proves a theory that his colleagues derided, he vindicates it. When a lawyer clears her client's name in a trial, she vindicates him. Machiavelli argued that the results he got vindicated his tactics — in other words, the ends justified the means.

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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:

vindicate vindicates vindicated vindicating

The worker just doesn’t get to vindicate their rights.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

“The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up ‘behind bars.’”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Sinn Féin MP Maskey said the coroner's findings vindicate families who have long maintained their loved ones were innocent and shot without justification.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

Megan notes that the data vindicate Fed officials’ decision to keep interest rates steady at the January meeting.

From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026

She expected me to vindicate her life for her, and the choices she’d made.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

To AI-safety experts, it vindicates what they have been warning about all along: that AI systems would cause real-world harms and evade attempts to control them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

These analysts will claim that the stock market’s huge rally to begin this week’s trading vindicates their beliefs.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim admitted his side were fortunate with the decision, and feels it vindicates the use of VAR, even if his side benefited on this occassion from its absence.

From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2025

Both the police and Gascón’s chief of staff, Joseph Iniguez, claim the video vindicates their respective interpretations of events.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2024

From this standpoint, too, he vindicates the authenticity of John's Gospel, and from Romans ix.-xi. works out a “Pauline Theodicy.”

From Church History, Vol. 3 of 3 by J. H. Kurtz

Does any part of you feel strangely vindicated by all of this?

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Economists who don’t think the Fed needs to hike this year felt vindicated.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Pauling may never be fully vindicated, but neither was he simply deluded.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The second half of the decade vindicated his instincts—although even hotter economic conditions soon prompted Greenspan rate hikes that preceded the bursting of the dot-com bubble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

By the time she stalked out of Dona Luz headquarters two hours later, having been badgered unmercifully and then vindicated at least partially by rent-a-car records in the capital, Abby was fuming.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

So watching the rest of the world finally catch up feels a little vindicating.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

A second theme for this Court is vindicating liberties in the Bill of Rights.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

But the case was a close one with only five justices full-throatedly vindicating the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protection goals.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

But the verdict marks a pivotal moment for the nation, vindicating protests that found their roots in anger over years of repression under her rule.

From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2025

Thus vindicating those who bore influence in her formative years.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023