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
-
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:
If that version is ever unearthed, it may perhaps vindicate the director.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
They can go into federal court and sue and vindicate their rights that way immediately.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
This would vindicate the Fed’s July caution in defying the clamor from the media and financial back benches to raise rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
In his first Madrid spell, he pushed for Luka Modric, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil, and history would vindicate all three choices.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
She expected me to vindicate her life for her, and the choices she’d made.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar added on X that the decision "vindicates Pakistan's consistent position that a binding international treaty cannot be unilaterally suspended or set aside".
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
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
One who avenges or vindicates; as, an avenger of blood.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
They were vindicated in Thursday’s disorderly selloff, said John Roe, head of multiasset allocation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Some people in the community who had been preaching the risks of losing control of AI felt vindicated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The result also vindicated Van’s claim to the championship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Admirers cheered that the court had at last vindicated Andrew Johnson.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
In time, both the theories would be spectacularly vindicated, and spectacularly demolished.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
So watching the rest of the world finally catch up feels a little vindicating.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 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
And you know, there are fewer things in life more vindicating than a guy dumping you and then crawling right back.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Now, another war is vindicating Beijing’s decision to view this as a critical sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 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.
