Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof.
  • transitive verb To defend, maintain, or insist on the recognition of (one's rights, for example).
  • transitive verb To demonstrate or prove the value or validity of; justify.
  • transitive verb Obsolete To exact revenge for; avenge.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Vindicated.
  • To assert a right to; lay claim to; claim.
  • To defend or support against an enemy; maintain the cause or rights of; deliver from wrong, oppression, or the like; clear from censure, or the like: as, to vindicate an official.
  • To support or maintain as true or correct, against denial, censure, or objections; defend; justify.
  • To avenge; punish; retaliate.
  • Synonyms and Assert, Defend, Maintain, etc. See assert.

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

  • transitive verb rare To lay claim to; to assert a right to; to claim.
  • transitive verb To maintain or defend with success; to prove to be valid; to assert convincingly; to sustain against assault.
  • transitive verb To support or maintain as true or correct, against denial, censure, or objections; to defend; to justify.
  • transitive verb To maintain, as a law or a cause, by overthrowing enemies.
  • transitive verb obsolete To liberate; to set free; to deliver.
  • transitive verb obsolete To avenge; to punish.

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

  • verb To clear from an accusation, suspicion or criticism.
  • verb To justify by providing evidence.
  • verb To maintain or defend a cause against opposition.
  • verb To provide justification for.
  • verb To lay claim to; to assert a right to; to claim.
  • verb obsolete To liberate; to set free; to deliver.
  • verb obsolete To avenge; to punish

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

  • verb clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting proof
  • verb maintain, uphold, or defend
  • verb show to be right by providing justification or proof

Etymologies

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

[Latin vindicāre, vindicāt-, from vindex, vindic-, surety, avenger; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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").

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Examples

  • While he said he doesn't like to "use the word vindicate," Feldstein, who turns 72 next week, said he recently reviewed his euro-skeptic articles and "thought they were pretty much on target, even though they were written 20 years ago."

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • Rome was still the lawful mistress of the world: the pope and the emperor, the bishop and general, had abdicated their station by an inglorious retreat to the Rhone and the Danube; but if she could resume her virtue, the republic might again vindicate her liberty and dominion.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • Later the same day, the-then White House counsel pressed the Justice Department's second highest ranking official to issue a statement that would "vindicate" Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona.

    Murray Waas: Former U.S. Attorney condemns Bush White House Interference with Corruption Probe 2009

  • How does float within the MOE "vindicate" the McCain campaign that last's poll was an outlier?

    Poll: Obama Up By Four Points Nationally 2009

  • Wednesday Lee Cheuk-yan, a prodemocracy legislator, introduced a nonbinding motion to remember the crackdown and "vindicate" the student movement.

    Hong Kong Freedom Fight Helen Cheng 2009

  • Its only purpose can be to do one of three things: self - "vindicate" bad loser revenge, sell products, such as advertising on Fox News, books, speaking tours etc. and/or troll for the unhinged on a "fishing expedition" for tomorrow's assassins.

    Frank Schaeffer: Dr. Tiller, Murder, Domestic Terrorism and the Republican Right 2009

  • KURTZ: But that goes to the broader point, which is one of the reasons this story has resonated, there is a widespread belief among critics, the BBC was sort of against the war, its reporting has been biased, and that they seized on this weapons of mass destruction story to kind of vindicate their point of view.

    CNN Transcript Jul 27, 2003 2003

  • A default judgment would in no way "vindicate" Jones if the President's stated reason for refusing further to defend the suit was the (by now all-too-obvious) fact that defending would demean his office and unduly distract him from doing the people's work.

    Clinton & the Jones Case Edmundson, William A. 1998

  • As Professor Edmundson further points out, even though a default judgment would not "vindicate" Ms. Jones, if accompanied by a statement that the President chose not to demean his office by defending such a civil suit, there would be a question of public reaction.

    Clinton & the Jones Case Edmundson, William A. 1998

  • In a single instance, he admits the estimate of Bernal Diaz, who puts the loss sustained by the Indians in a battle at eight hundred; while Las Casas, whose corrections of other writers Mr. Wilson professes to "vindicate," says the loss of the Indians on this occasion amounted to thirty thousand.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 Various

Comments

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  • I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me. God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57:2~3.

    June 13, 2011

  • to clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof

    Even seven Tour de France wins cannot vindicate Lance Armstrong in the eyes of the public--that the athlete used performance enhancing drugs invalidates all those win

    October 11, 2016