Vindicate Meaning

/ˈvɪndɪˌkeɪ̯t/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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verbTo clear of an accusation, suspicion or criticism.

verbTo justify by providing evidence.

Sami wanted to vindicate himself.
History will vindicate him.
The new evidence will vindicate him from all charges.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new evidence will ____ the wrongly accused man and prove his innocence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The discovery of the new evidence helped to ____ the man, who had been wrongly accused of the crime many years today.

Borrowed from Latin vindicātus, perfect passive participle of vindicō (“lay legal claim to something; set free; protect, avenge, punish”), from vim, accusative singular of vīs (“force, power”), + dīcō (“say; declare, state”). See avenge.

"As a man of vision, he understood this. Without Cerberus, humanity was doomed to an existence of groveling subservience at the feet of alien masters. Still, there were those who would call what he did criminal. Unethical. Amoral. History would vindicate him, but until it did he and his followers were forced to exist in hiding, working toward their goals in secret." — 2008, Drew Karpyshyn, Mass Effect: Ascension, Del Rey Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 3:
"The Ukrainians immediately demanded a goal and their claims were vindicated as replays showed the ball crossed the line before Terry's intervention." — 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
"When Trump's election pulled back the curtain on the rise of the far-right in America, I'd naively assumed the Jewish left would be vindicated." — 2019, Eli Valley, “A Springtime of Erasure”, in Jewish Currents, number Fall 2019, page 14:

Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
The new evidence will ____ the wrongly accused man and prove his innocence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The discovery of the new evidence helped to ____ the man, who had been wrongly accused of the crime many years today.

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