exonerate
Americanverb (used with object)
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exonerates,
present (3rd person singular)
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exonerated,
past participle, past
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exonerating
present participle
verb
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to clear or absolve from blame or a criminal charge
-
to relieve from an obligation or task; exempt
Synonym Usage
See absolve.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exoneratesimple
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exoneratessimple
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have exoneratedperfect
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has exoneratedperfect
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am exoneratingprogressive
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are exoneratingprogressive
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is exoneratingprogressive
-
have been exoneratingperfect progressive
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has been exoneratingperfect progressive
Past
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exoneratedsimple
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had exoneratedperfect
-
was exoneratingprogressive
-
were exoneratingprogressive
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had been exoneratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exonerate
First recorded in 1515–25; late Middle English, from Latin exonerātus (past participle of exonerāre “to unburden, discharge”), equivalent to ex- “out of, from; thoroughly” + oner- (stem of onus ) “a burden” + -ātus past participle suffix; see ex- 1, -ate 1
Explanation
To exonerate someone is to declare him not guilty of criminal charges. This word is pretty much only used in reference to proceedings in a court of law. A word with a similar meaning that might be familiar is “acquit.” When your next door neighbor was arrested for painting smiley faces on the front doors of all the houses on your block, evidence to exonerate him was discovered when the police found a young hooligan from the next street over with a basement full of paint canisters. The verb comes from the Latin exonerat-, meaning “freed from burden.” A criminal charge is certainly a burden, and when you're exonerated, you're freed from that burden.
Vocabulary lists containing exonerate
100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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Great Expectations
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Just Mercy
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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:
But in far more cases—especially controversial shootings—it captured the chain of events clearly enough for investigators to exonerate officers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
"We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence," he told the magazine, calling on African leaders to improve governance.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
Our attention then returns to the original flashpoint in a way that should, in some respects, exonerate Glaude’s teacher.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2025
He specifically asked if it would look for DNA evidence that could exonerate him - evidence that would point to an alternative suspect.
From BBC ● May 13, 2025
Recently, an effort has been launched to exonerate George Stinney.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Thomas and Gorsuch expressed serious doubts that the statute actually exonerates platforms for “deliberately structuring” in a way that could “facilitate” illegal and dangerous activity.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026
Telles told the AP during a February 2023 jail interview that he had evidence that exonerates him, but he declined to produce it.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
An Oklahoma judge exonerates a man who spent nearly 50 years in prison on murder charges, the longest serving inmate to be declared innocent of the crime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
He said in a statement earlier this week that he believed the report "exonerates me of all responsibility."
From Reuters ● Apr. 21, 2023
I can think of no answer that exonerates me.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
The council was exonerated from culpability by the inquest.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
But now, authorities have officially exonerated him — acknowledging his innocence in the 1998 Fullerton heist that robbed him of nearly two decades of his life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Only once before has an executed person been exonerated posthumously by a state entity.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026
These include cases in which the men were exonerated through DNA or blood evidence and others in which police are accused of fabricating evidence.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
My dad glanced at my mom and for one delirious second I thought I was off the hook, that somehow I’d exonerated myself, and that we could all just go back to business as usual.
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
Only in 1906, after many twists, did the high court of appeal overturn the original verdict, exonerating Dreyfus.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
In 2013 the agency failed to review the file again, despite the Court of Appeal exonerating another man of rape in near-identical circumstances.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2024
The Los Angeles Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group with a reputation for exonerating wrongfully convicted criminals, is seeking to clear Peterson in the killings of Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Conner.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2024
On Thursday, Prado said he would have recommended exonerating Pargas because the acting police chief responded to the crisis correctly based on the division of responsibility between the city and school district.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2024
He was still in a warlike mood, however, and left Doctor Wells with the promise of getting at the root of the whole matter and exonerating his son.
From The Mark of the Knife by Clayton H. Ernst
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.
