absolve
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əbˈzɒlv/
ipa: /æbˈzɑlv/
ipa: /-ˈsɑlv/
ipa: /əbˈ-/
ipa: /-ˈsɔlv/
ipa: /-ˈzɔlv/
rhymes: -ɒlv
Forms: form: absolves
form: absolving
form: absolved
form: absolved
Etymology: First attested in the early 15th century. From Middle English absolven, from Latin absolvere (“set free, acquit”), from ab (“away from”) + solvō (“loosen, free, release”). Doublet of assoil.
Senses: examples: text: You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.
text: Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
ref: 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:
text: The Committee divided, and Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 410:
glosses: To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.).
examples: text: 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332,
[…] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]
text: we ſhall not abſolve the doubt.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the blackneſſe of Negroes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 276:
glosses: To resolve; to explain; to solve.
examples: text: A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.
ref: 1993, Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers, Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, Second edition, Games Workshop, page 22:
glosses: To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt.
examples: text: Abſolves the juſt, and dooms the guilty ſouls.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book XI”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 121, line 702:
topics: law
glosses: To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for.
examples: text: To make confession and to be absolved.
ref: 1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 5:
topics: lifestyle
religion
theology
glosses: To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to.
examples: text: In his name I abſolve your perjury and ſanctify your arms: follow my footſteps in the paths of glory and ſalvation; and if ſtill ye have ſcruples, devolve on my head the puniſhment and the ſin.
ref: 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 447:
topics: lifestyle
religion
theology
glosses: To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin.
examples: text: and the work begun, how ſoon / Abſolv'd,
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 93–94:
glosses: To finish; to accomplish.
glosses: To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to qualify academically.
Synonyms: sense: set free
word: excuse
sense: set free
word: exempt
sense: set free
word: free
sense: set free
word: release
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: acquit
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: exculpate
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: exonerate
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: pardon
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: remit
sense: pronounce free or give absolution
word: vindicate
sense: theology: to pronounce free or give absolution from sin
word: remit
Derived terms: absolvable
absolvement
absolver
reabsolve
unabsolve
Related terms: absolutionary
absolutive
absolutory
absolvatory