exculpation


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Related to exculpation: excuse

ex·cul·pate

 (ĕk′skəl-pāt′, ĭk-skŭl′-)
tr.v. ex·cul·pat·ed, ex·cul·pat·ing, ex·cul·pates
To clear of guilt or blame.

[Medieval Latin exculpāre, exculpāt- : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin culpa, guilt.]

ex·cul′pa·ble (ĭk-skŭl′pə-bəl) adj.
ex′cul·pa′tion n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.exculpation - a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.exculpation - a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
vindication, defense, defence - the justification for some act or belief; "he offered a persuasive defense of the theory"
extenuation, mitigation - a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances
2.exculpation - the act of freeing from guilt or blame
pardon, forgiveness - the act of excusing a mistake or offense
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

exculpation

noun
A freeing or clearing from accusation or guilt:
Law: acquittal.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Gurth, knowing his master's irritable temper, attempted no exculpation; but the Jester, who could presume upon Cedric's tolerance, by virtue of his privileges as a fool, replied for them both; ``In troth, uncle Cedric, you are neither wise nor reasonable to-night.''
The notion that her death was my fault is sheer unreason on the face of it; and I need no exculpation on that score; but I must disclaim the credit of having borne her death like a philosopher.
For such a failure of discretion in a bishop, there can be no excuse; neither should anyone attempt to offer exculpation by appeal to the dignity or authority of his office.
But it should not be forgotten that in her long journey toward exculpation she has maintained a high media profile.
But it should not be forgotten that in her long journey toward exculpation, she blamed an innocent black man (bar owner and her boss Patrick Lumumba) for the 2007 murder for which she was accused, and told lie upon lie in the process.
Exculpation. After deciding which market to adopt, courts must then decide whether to allow defendants to exculpate themselves from the lawsuit by proving that they did not participate in the market.
In order to ensure the exculpation of the idea to establish this fictitious state in the territory of Azerbaijan, a wide-scale program, aimed at the falsification of the national history of Armenians, was started.
"In any case, granting that the Court may take judicial notice of the accused-movant's years of incumbency as ARMM governor, the same does not necessarily result in his automatic exculpation, given the existence of documents relating to the subject transactions which were allegedly signed by him during his incumbency," the Third Division said.
A good antidote to Heidegger's attempts at collective exculpation are the diaries of writers such as Victor Klemperer and Denis de Rougemont, testifying to the fanaticism of so many ordinary Germans in the 1930s.
But his feeble attempts at exculpation were not working.
So to treat any version of the latter defence as simple confirmation of the nominee's villainy is to close even the narrow door that Wittes (and I) would leave open for Kavanaugh's potential exculpation. If you are being asked to prove a negative, you cannot be denied the opportunity to explain what you think that negative might look like.
The third column also shows that Bush enjoyed the greatest amount of exculpation. Nearly half his blaming paragraphs included exculpatory language.