vindicate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
vindicates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
vindicated,
past participle, past
-
vindicating
present participle
-
to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like.
to vindicate someone's honor.
- Synonyms:
- exonerate
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to afford justification for; justify.
Subsequent events vindicated his policy.
-
to uphold or justify by argument or evidence.
to vindicate a claim.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate
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to assert, maintain, or defend (a right, cause, etc.) against opposition.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate
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to claim for oneself or another.
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Roman and Civil Law. to regain possession, under claim of title of property through legal procedure, or to assert one's right to possession.
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to get revenge for; avenge.
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Obsolete. to deliver from; liberate.
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Obsolete. to punish.
verb
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to clear from guilt, accusation, blame, etc, as by evidence or argument
-
to provide justification for
his promotion vindicated his unconventional attitude
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to uphold, maintain, or defend (a cause, etc)
to vindicate a claim
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Roman law to bring an action to regain possession of (property) under claim of legal title
-
rare to claim, as for oneself or another
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obsolete to take revenge on or for; punish
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obsolete to set free
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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vindicatornoun
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revindicateverb (used with object)
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self-vindicatedadjective
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self-vindicatingadjective
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unvindicatedadjective
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vindicatoryadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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vindicatesimple
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vindicatessimple
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have vindicatedperfect
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has vindicatedperfect
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am vindicatingprogressive
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are vindicatingprogressive
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is vindicatingprogressive
-
have been vindicatingperfect progressive
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has been vindicatingperfect progressive
Past
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vindicatedsimple
-
had vindicatedperfect
-
was vindicatingprogressive
-
were vindicatingprogressive
-
had been vindicatingperfect progressive
Future
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:
The worker just doesn’t get to vindicate their rights.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Moreover, a recent late-stage study of its tozorakimab drug candidate for smokers’ cough seems to vindicate AstraZeneca’s approach of developing potentially the best—rather than first—of its class of medicines, Bernstein notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 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
Only a win vindicates the Canberra decision and can ensure a peaceful holiday in Noosa after the Test.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
This is a moment really that vindicates truth-telling.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2025
Atterbury, Bishop, vindicates the genuine character of Clarendon’s History, 731.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli
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
Chelsea will, however, feel vindicated in their belief that he engineered his exit, after receiving compensation of £17m from City.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The philosophers in the audience were scandalized by this claim; Galileo was naturally thrilled to have been vindicated and feted.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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
Menisa Sesay said it showed the legal reforms for which they had fought so hard were finally being enforced, vindicating their mission to protect the rights of vulnerable women and girls.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
