Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Security against damage, loss, or injury.
  • noun An exemption from liability for damages resulting from specified conduct, as in a contract indemnifying a party for the performance of certain actions.
  • noun Compensation for damage, loss, or injury suffered.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Security given against or exemption granted from damage, loss, injury, or punishment.
  • noun Indemnification; compensation for loss, damage, or injury sustained; reimbursement.
  • noun In law, that which is given to a person who has assumed or is about to assume a responsibility at the request or for the benefit of another, in order to make good to him any loss or liability which has or may come upon him by so doing.

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

  • noun Security; insurance; exemption from loss or damage, past or to come; immunity from penalty, or the punishment of past offenses; amnesty.
  • noun Indemnification, compensation, or remuneration for loss, damage, or injury sustained.
  • noun (Law) an act or law passed in order to relieve persons, especially in an official station, from some penalty to which they are liable in consequence of acting illegally, or, in case of ministers, in consequence of exceeding the limits of their strict constitutional powers. These acts also sometimes provide compensation for losses or damage, either incurred in the service of the government, or resulting from some public measure.

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

  • noun law an obligation or duty upon an individual to incur the losses of another.
  • noun repayment
  • noun law the right of an injured party to shift the loss onto the party responsible for the loss.
  • noun insurance a principle of insurance which provides that when a loss occurs, the insured should be restored to the approximate financial condition occupied before the loss occurred, no better, no worse.

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

  • noun legal exemption from liability for damages
  • noun protection against future loss
  • noun a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English indempnite, from Anglo-Norman, from Late Latin indemnitās, from Latin indemnis, uninjured; see indemnify.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French indemnité, from Late Latin indemnitas ("security from damage"), from Latin indemnis ("undamaged"), from in- ("not") + damnum ("damage").

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