Vindicate
Other forms: vindicated; vindicating; vindicates
Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother fesses up.
Vindicate derives from the Latin vindicatus, which is the past tense of vindicare, meaning "lay claim to" or "avenge." When a physicist proves a theory that his colleagues derided, he vindicates it. When a lawyer clears her client's name in a trial, she vindicates him. Machiavelli argued that the results he got vindicated his tactics — in other words, the ends justified the means.
Definitions of vindicate
verb
show to be right by providing justification or proof
“vindicate a claim”
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types:
legitimate
show or affirm to be just and legitimate
alibi
exonerate by means of an alibi
type of:
verb
clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting proof
“You must vindicate yourself and fight this libel”
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type of:
verb
maintain, uphold, or defend
“vindicate the rights of the citizens”
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type of:
Style:
MLA
MLAAPAChicago"Vindicate." Vocabulary.com Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/vindicate. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
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Schools win state, national, and global awards
For one brief, glorious moment, Kaede felt vindicated, but then her father said, “She is my daughter. She is not of age. She does not go where I do not permit.”
HuntressA moment’s reading vindicated Miss Marsten’s statement; the Nexus-6 did have two trillion constituents plus a choice within a range of ten million possible combinations of cerebral activity.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. DickAlfred Wegener never lived to see his ideas vindicated.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonSoon after Cornwall Capital laid their chips on the table, Capital One was vindicated by its regulators, its stock price shot up, and Cornwall Capital’s $26,000 option position was worth $526,000.
The Big Short by Michael LewisDISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘vindicate'.Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.Send us feedback
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