Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of exculpating or of exonerating from a charge of fault or crime; vindication.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of exculpating from alleged fault or crime; that which exculpates; excuse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of exculpating from alleged fault or crime; that which exculpates; excuse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.
  • noun the act of freeing from guilt or blame

Etymologies

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Examples

  • But where is the plea which we can hand down to a candid posterity in exculpation, wholly or partially, of the parricidal act which has robbed the American nation of a father, every American citizen of a friend, factious parties of their most generous judge, a relentless enemy of their best protector, and the whole world of an HONEST MAN?

    The Great Funeral Oration on Abraham Lincoln 1865

  • Sir Hugh, with entreaties that he would write a few lines to Mrs. Tyrold, in exculpation of her sorrowing daughter.

    Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth 1796

  • 'For what belongs to that correspondence, and even for its being unknown to my friends, I may offer, perhaps, hereafter, something in exculpation; ... hereafter, I say, building upon your long family regard; for though we part ... it will be, I trust, in amity.'

    Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth 1796

  • And while that might, regrettably, remain a statement of fact about an imperfect world - it shouldn't in any way take on the colour of an exculpation, which is what the current law gives it.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2008

  • While the author admits these flaws in varying measure, at some point, her self-deprecating accounts of her romps seem more like gimmicky braggadocio rather than self-reflective criticism much less exculpation for region-wide offenses.

    C. Christine Fair: Baffled by The Taliban Shuffle C. Christine Fair 2011

  • Prof. HAYES: Once we turned de-Nazification over to the Germans at the end of 1946, then very largely this process became one of mutual exculpation.

    Probe Details Culpability Of Nazi-Era Diplomats 2010

  • While the author admits these flaws in varying measure, at some point, her self-deprecating accounts of her romps seem more like gimmicky braggadocio rather than self-reflective criticism much less exculpation for region-wide offenses.

    C. Christine Fair: Baffled by The Taliban Shuffle C. Christine Fair 2011

  • "Aren't you reassured by this (e.g. the EFSA exculpation of BPA)," she sneered.

    Jon Entine: With the European Union and a Slew of New Studies Reaffirming the Safety of BPA, At What Point Will the Science Prevail? Jon Entine 2010

  • While the author admits these flaws in varying measure, at some point, her self-deprecating accounts of her romps seem more like gimmicky braggadocio rather than self-reflective criticism much less exculpation for region-wide offenses.

    C. Christine Fair: Baffled by The Taliban Shuffle C. Christine Fair 2011

  • While the author admits these flaws in varying measure, at some point, her self-deprecating accounts of her romps seem more like gimmicky braggadocio rather than self-reflective criticism much less exculpation for region-wide offenses.

    C. Christine Fair: Baffled by The Taliban Shuffle C. Christine Fair 2011

Comments

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  • 'This is a high price to pay for exculpation, in its way the ultimate statement of the modernist impulse to discredit the witness of the mind'. The Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson 2010.

    April 20, 2013