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The act of absolving can be seen as releasing someone from blame or sin, or "loosening" the hold that responsibility or guilt has on a person, which provides a hint about the word's origins. Absolve was adopted into Middle English in the 15th century from the Latin verb absolvere ("to release, acquit, finish, complete"), formed by combining the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with solvere, meaning "to loosen." Absolve also once had additional senses of "to finish or accomplish" and "to resolve or explain," but these are now obsolete. Solvere is also the ancestor of the English words solve, dissolve, resolve, solvent, and solution.
Examples of absolve in a Sentence
Conor Murray, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025
Washington — President Trump on Monday granted clemency to roughly 1,500 defendants who had been convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, following through on his longtime promise to absolve those who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol of wrongdoing.
—Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 20 Jan. 2025
What began as a strained attempt to absolve Mr. Trump of responsibility for Jan. 6 gradually took hold, as his allies in Congress and the media played down the attack and redirected blame to left-wing plants, Democrats and even the government.
—Dan Barry, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2025
Yet Biden’s pace of individual pardons ‒ which absolves an individual of a criminal offense entirely ‒ has been the slowest since at least President William McKinley in 1900, according to Justice Department records.
—Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near absolve
Cite this Entry
“Absolve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolve. Accessed 26 Jan. 2025.
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Legal Definition
absolve
transitive verb
In re Bruce R., 662 A.2d 107 (1995)Harbaugh v. Darr, 438 P.2d 74 (1968)
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