Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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verb
To absolve or release (someone) from blame or sin; to forgive, to pardon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: assoilze
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To atone or expiate for (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Followed by from or of: to acquit (someone) from a criminal charge; to find (someone) not guilty; to clear.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: assoilze, exonerate, vindicate, acquittance, assoil, assoilzie, acquit, absolve, clear, disculp, disculpate, exculpate
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Followed by from or of: to release or set free (someone) from a liability, an obligation, etc.; to discharge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To clear up or resolve (a difficulty, doubt, problem, etc.); to absolve, to solve.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: soil, soyle
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To refute (an argument, an objection, etc.).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To discharge (a liability, an obligation, etc.).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To get rid of, put off, or remove (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To absolve or release (someone) from excommunication or some other religious offence.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
Topics: Christianity
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make (something) dirty or soiled; to soil; to stain; to sully.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: befoul, foul, slur, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen, befile, befilth, begrime, beray, beshit, besmear, besmirch, besully, bewray, blacken, blot, blur, clat, contaminate, darken, defile, dirten, dirty, elt, file, foil, gunk, gunk up, inquinate, scunge, sling mud, slotter, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, soss, sowl, spot, stain, sullow, sully, tarnish, uggle
Antonyms: none provided
verb
pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: acquit, clear, discharge, exonerate, exculpate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: pronounce, label, judge
Narrower terms: vindicate, whitewash, purge
History
From Middle English assoilen (“to absolve or release from blame or sin”), from Anglo-Norman as(s)oiler, as(s)oilier, and Old French as(s)oille [and other forms], the present subjunctive, and as(s)oil, the present indicative, of as(s)oldre, as(s)oudre (“to absolve from blame”) (modern French absoudre), from Latin absoluere, the present active infinitive of absoluō, a variant of absolvō (“to set free from”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + solvō (“to loosen, set free”) (from sē- (“prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’”) + luō (“to let go, set free”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to cut off, to free”). Doublet of absolve and assoilzie.
Possibly from a- (intensifying prefix) or ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, toward’, or indicating an addition or tendency) + soil (“to make dirty”), perhaps influenced by assoil (etymology 1).
