Absolve
[əb'zɒlv] or [əb'zɑlv]
Definition
(verb.) let off the hook; 'I absolve you from this responsibility'.
Edited by Gail--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To set free, or release, as from some obligation, debt, or responsibility, or from the consequences of guilt or such ties as it would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment.
(v. t.) To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); -- said of the sin or guilt.
(v. t.) To finish; to accomplish.
(v. t.) To resolve or explain.
Typist: Shane
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Acquit, clear, release, liberate, free, discharge, loose, deliver, exculpate, exonerate, excuse, forgive, pardon, JUSTIFY, set free.
Checker: Louie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Acquit, release, exonerate, liberate, exempt, discharge, exculpate, pardon,forgive, free, clear
ANT:Charge, accuse, compel, bind, obligate, convict, condemn, inculpate, impeach,oblige
Typist: Serena
Definition
v.t. to loose or set free: to pardon: to acquit: to discharge (with from).—ns. Absolv′er one who gives absolution or acquits; Absolv′itor a decision favourable to a defender.—v.t. Assoil′zie in Scots law to absolve the accused on the grounds that the evidence disproves or does not establish the charge.
Checker: Shari
Examples
- A wall is a wall: the presence of it will not do the work of civilization--the absence of it does not absolve anyone from the tasks of social life. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It is I that absolve you from an engagement which is impossible in our present misery. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Unless I set my will, unless I absolve myself from the rhythm of life, fix myself and remain static, cut off from living, absolved within my own will. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I know that it was sincere, and that my wish and aim were to absolve her to herself. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- My good cousin, absolve yourself from that! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I tell you, my dear, _I_ cannot absolve myself from the promises I make to these helpless creatures. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- No--I absolve you of that, he agreed. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- No one is absolved from experiment and constant revision. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- From the rest, he was absolved entirely for the time being. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Unless I set my will, unless I absolve myself from the rhythm of life, fix myself and remain static, cut off from living, absolved within my own will. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- And yet, said I, smiling, I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- J'ai menti plusieurs fois, formed an item of every girl's and woman's monthly confession: the priest heard unshocked, and absolved unreluctant. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- She seemed to have passed into a kind of dream world, absolved from the conditions of actuality. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Whether she charged herself with these faults or absolved herself from them, made no difference in the sum-total of her failure. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
Editor: Meredith