SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
exonerate
verb
To clear someone of blame or responsibility.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Clear of blame
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topAcquit specifically concerns a legal finding; exonerate and vindicate also apply outside court.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See exonerate in use
The recovered letter helped exonerate the wrongly accused messenger.
Soon afterward, a member wanted to denounce a newcomer for returning a borrowed tool with a visible crack in its handle. Before the group could impute the damage to him, the coordinator checked the checkout photographs and the earlier maintenance note. Those records could exonerate the newcomer because they showed the same crack before he borrowed the tool.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license